Vera's Diary
by xunxknownx
Summary: Vera is an 18 year old teenager. She's trying to figure out who she is, while living in a twisted world. She is one of the billion fans of the serie called The Maze Runner. But what if she ended up in this world ? In this serie ? With its characters and realize it was no science fiction at all ? What if she discovered that her life was in danger ? What would happen ?
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone !

This is my first fanfiction, I have this whole idea in my mind that I'd like to develop, and I hope you'll like it ! If you do let me know, and if you have any advice, let me know as well !

Basically, this story is inspired from the Maze Runner, and as I write Vera's adventures, we'll see where it leads us.

Enjoy !

 _Dear diary,_

 _I recieved you as a gift for my 18th birthday. And I figured it was about time I write something here. I can't tell you why, but I just feel the need to write about me, my family, my world and eventually what will happen to me. I have so many questions and ideas in my mind, that sometimes I feel like my brain is about to explose._

 _It's weird right ? I'm probably the only human being with so much stupidity and creation in this whole world. I feel lame._

 _Well I guess you can call me a looser._

 _Anyway, let's move on. I didn't take that pen to write about how stupid I think I am. Well, not in the first place._

 _I think I'm loosing you, I might as well start all over again, in a more mature and artistic way. Ready ?_

 _Let's go :_

 _I grew up in this town, this old town, on this old earth. I always thought I will never live old, never grow old. I can't tell you why but I always knew I'd die young._

 _Our world is covered by darkness, even when it's daylight, you can't really see a blue sky, as it's described in old books. It's just always grey. I never saw sea, or mountains, or snow. I've just imagined it in my head, as I read these landscapes' description. I've always dreamed of swimming in a river or in the sea, amongs dolphins or fish. I know how out of mind this sounds..but I just whish I could. You must feel alive when you do that. Or when you live in a "clean world"._

 _I have a hell of a character for a girl my age. But to understand that, you must have some knowledge about my world._

 _Let me tell you a few things about it._

 _First of all, when you're a girl, you don't speak your mind, you don't give your opinion you simply obey. You can't think, you can't choose, you just live quietly._

 _Secondly, you can't play, any game. You don't play at anything, volleyball, games in school, all of this is forbidden. Hobbies are bad for your health. They don't teach you the right thing about life, which is hardwork. They teach you competition which is a huge default these days._

 _And finally, do not question your government, your leaders, or their choices, loudly. You can do it privatly, but still you must be very carefull. This is no fun, and they don't enjoy knowing they've been criticized._

 _And I almost forgot to tell you ! The only game you can watch is called the Maze Runner. Now this game has been a part of me for ever._

 _It started when I was about eight years old. It's like a mini serie. We follow the lives of people, watch them grow old, fight, defend their village. It's like a science fiction movie. We can watch it on tv, and on our Eyephones._

 _(Eyephones are like phones. Basically it's a screen that you have right in front of your eyes, you just have to clic on a button. This button is situated on a bracelet, necklace or any type of jewerly. Everybody can have it, it's not that expensive and it's really usefull.). To sum it up, the maze runner is a place where a community lives. But there are boys, only boys ! Each month, they send a new person there, a new human being, a new man. But in the last episode, they sent, for the first time, a woman. And it was awkward seeing everyone's reaction._

 _And, most importantly, in this serie, the characters have to fight, almost every day, it's hard to explain but, they must find a way out of the maze. No one has ever succeeded. But since Thomas was send there, we believe there's gonna have some changes._

I close my rose gold book. I put my pen on the side of the desk made in white wood. I'm so bad at writting. I wish I could become a well known writer, I would be the first woman known for her abilities to think, write, create. The first celebrity with the female sexe.

"Vera ?" screams my mother from the other room, interrupting my dreams.

"Yes?" I answer, screaming louder so that she'll hear me.

"Come" she says briefly. I know then, that she has company.

I look at myself in the mirror, put back in place some stands of brown hair, force a smile, breathe in slowly and breathe out some warm air through a pink mouth.

I go down the stairs, slowly, as a woman should always walk. Head up, I become as cold as ice, I become distant, it's like I'm a new person when I quit my bedroom. I become a confident woman. I hug my mother to be polite and I briefly look at the man standing on her side. I smile at him to say hi.

"Do I know you?" I ask.

"No, we've never met before." he says with an acute voice, which makes me smile. I try to contain a laugh, and I successfully do. My mother and I both think about it and we both have the same opinion on this tiny man. He's wearing a grey suit, holding a case in his left hand. His hair are oily, because of his shampoo I guess. His brown eyes are small and vicious. His beard makes him look way older than me. If I had to choose a word to describe this being, it would be disgusting.

"I'm Conor Marchand" he says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Vera"

"I know" he says quickly. "Your dad told me about you" he adds.

"Oh god" I whisper. My mother hits my arm with her elbow.

"I'm blessed" I say, forcing a polite smile.

"I brought you a gift" he says. My eyes widen instantly. This is way too much. I don't know what my dad told that poor guy, but he now thinks that we'll marry and have too many loud children. This is a really bad idea. M. Marchand open his black case and tends me a white box. In the middle of it, there is a black logo that I recognize. It's the logo of my favourite brand.

"That's way too much, I can't accept that" I say, not knowing if I shoul open it now or later, or even keep it.

"I have a very busy day, so I must go now, but please, keep it. I bought it for you. I'll see you at the dance tomorrow night right ? With this dress ?" he asks.

The box contains a dress, from my favourite brand ? I need a couple of minutes to understand what is happening to me. Wait ? He wants me to go to the dance with him ? Him ? that guy ? NO.

But before I can say anything, my mother answers for me : "She will be pleased to do that for you. Thank you Mister Marchand, have a lovely day."

M. Marchand smiles at my mother, and at me, he turns around and leaves, while I stay in the middle of the living room, with the box in my hands, trying to deal with my mother's last sentence. She looks at me, worried that maybe she made the wrong decision. As soon as I hear the front door closing, I become myself again and leave that confident woman behind. I climb the stairs and go back in my room, still not understanding what just happened.

I sit on my red and white blanket, put the box in front of me and stare at it. I can't say yes, I don't want him, I don't want to know him, I don't want to see him ever again. And going to that dance is not a good idea at all.

My mom knocks at my door.

"Come in" I say with a tired voice.

"Have you opened it yet?" she asks pointing the large white box with her eyes.

"No, I'm afraid it might be a bomb" I say.

"Don't be stupid" she adds laughing.

"You're right, that kind of boring guy with greasy hair won't ever have the capacity to build a bomb".

"You don't like him?" she asks still smiling.

"Of course not. Have you looked at him for a second ? Marrying that guy would mean death. I would spend my days watching the news, listening to boring conferences, taking care of my kids, making his lunch and cleaning the toilets."

"This is not what I want" I say.

"Who said you had to marry him ?" she asks.

"Well, dad has been talking to him about me so..." I say.

"You don't have to say yes, but you'll have to say yes to some guy one day." she says sitting on the chair in the corner of my room.

"I don't want that kind of man and you know it" I say touching the corner of the box nervously. I look at her, and she knows what I want, because she needed the same thing when she was my age. She needed adventure, something unordinary. A life full of surprises and dangers.

"You need Thomas from the Maze Runner right ?" she asks laughing.

I can't help it but laugh too, because this sounds completely crazy, but at the same time she's right.

"I like Thomas but he is not my favourite" I say, feeling my cheeks turning red.

"I know who's your favourite" she adds laughing even more.

"You shall meet him when the time is right" she adds.

"Forget that" says a man. And I recognize my father's voice. His facial expression is serious and severe.

"Why ?" I ask.

"This lifestyle is dangerous, you don't even know what you're talking about. And having this kind of talking could cost you your life. And you know that. You can't talk about dreaming of another lifestyle, and even less, talk about wanting to go to the maze runner. Don't wish for something stupid." he answers with an angry voice.

"Just deal with a boring life, it's way better than a life in which you have to fight to save your damn fucking ass every day" he adds.

I raise myself out of the bed in a fast mouvment and start screaming "I don't want this fucking boring lifestyle. This is not for me. Every single day I spend here, in this room, in this house, in this fucking twisted world, I feel myself slowly dying. And I ain't afraid of saying this outloud. What are they going to do to me ? Take me to jail. Let them. I'll be as happy as I am here."

"Don't be ridiculous" my dad screams louder than me.

"I am not ! Why can't you understand that ? Why can't you let me choose who I want to marry ? Why can't I do what I want ?" I ask

"Because I'm a fucking WOMAN ! And that is not fair at all. What dudes have that we, women, don't ?" I add.

"Intelligence" he yells.

"I hate you" I say, feeling my tears rolling down my red cheeks. I feel so mad, so angry, I can't stand it. "I hate you more than anything, you are so mean !"

"I don't care." he says lowering down his voice.

"Your father is clumsily trying to protect you Vera" my mother says.

I sit back on the left side of my bed, far from my dad.

"I don't need his protection." I say.

"You do need my protection" he answers. "You don't know what's out there."

"You don't either" I say too rapidly.

"That's not true" says my mother.

I wipe my tears out of my face and stare at my parents.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"Nothing" says my dad. He glares at my mother and gets out of my bedroom. I look back at my mother, asking for more explanations.

"I'll tell you everything tomorrow at the dance" she says.

"Ok" I say, giving up.

"Now open that box, so that we discover what you'll wear ! "she says. I smile and open the white box.

 _Diary note_ _:_

 _Looking back at that moment, when we got into that fight, I never should've said that. Maybe I should've listened to my father. Because he knew everything, and my mother was right, he was just trying to protect me. But I guess my curiosity has always been too developed. But knowing what I've learned, living what happened, it cost me more than my life._


	2. Chapter 2 : Hold fast to dreams

Hello there ! First of all, I wanna thank you for leaving some nice comments, because it helps me in my writting and it keeps me going, it keeps me motivated. So thank you very much !

Now, I'm leaving for holidays tomorrow, I'm going to Paris for 5 days, so I decided to upload the second chapter, since I already had finished writting it. It's quite long, I admit it ! Sorry !

I hope you will like it. This chapter it just to start off and explain Vera's environment. But the following chapters will be more captivating (yes I already have been writting them aha). I have exciting things coming for you after this, so keep reading !

Have a wonderfull day/night !

xunxknownx

 _Diary note_ _:_

 _Looking back at that moment, when we got into that fight, I never should've said that. Maybe I should've listened to my father. Because he knew everything, and my mother was right, he was just trying to protect me. But I guess my curiosity has always been too developed. But knowing what I've learned, living what happened, it cost me more than my life._

 _Every single fight I stood for, every death, every obstacle, all of these events took a tiny bit of my energy. And now, I have none left to give._

 _I forgot about this diary the day I learned about the Maze, the day I learned the truth about our world. After that day every event just unrolled quicker than I thought._

 _Looking back I have no regrets. But I keep thinking that maybe, if I hadn't been so curious and so obstinate, maybe I wouldn't be here, there, in this little tiny house, writting on an old journal. Writting about what happened._

 _But I must deal with my choices, with my decisions. Therefore I'm writting it down, I'm writting my story, and my friends' stories as well. It deserves to be told and to be heard._

My eyes are closed, I move my fingers, one after another, feeling the sweetness of the clean shits. I slowly move my head to my right. My body follows the mouvment of my neck, slowly turning itself on its right side. All my weight is resting on my right arm. I push my left hand in the pillow and squeeze it for a second. I open my mouth to breathe out. And after a couple of minutes I finally open my eyes. The two green circles discover the rest of my bedroom, immersed in darkness.

"I'm awake" I say with a sleepy voice. And as soon as these words are pronounced an ensemble of mecanism rolls off. Shutters are opening theirselves, allowing the artificial sunlight to come in. A thin fresh air is entering the room, through a conduit. The ceiling turns into a blue sky, covered with some clouds. I see a bird flying just above me. "If only this could be real" I whisper to myself.

"Goodmorning Miss Vera Danckin" says an automatic clear english voice.

I raise myself up, open a thin golded door and I enter the next room. It's all made of wood, black and old wood. It smells like a forest. I hear some music. It's an ocean wave sound, followed by bird sounds. I undress myself and put my clothes on the only furniture that is disposed in the left corner of the room. It is a light green rectangular cabinet.

I walk back to the center of the room, close my eyes, and I feel the ambient temperature water pouring all over my naked body.

Once my shower is done, I put on the dress M. Marchand offered me yesterday.

The purple silk arises slightly on my body, touching it, but not squeezing it.

God I love this brand. The dress is without sleeves, it's denude in the back, but in the front it's a whole different design. The first part of the dress covers my neck, goes down my chest and is slightly tighten at the middle waist, which makes me appear thiner than I am. The bottom of the dress is wide, it looks like a bell.

And that's not it. There is another piece. Still in a purple colour, but more defined, more improved. The different clothing elements assemble, bind together, and break apart to form a triangle crossed by a straight line.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I can not believe I'm wearing this beautiful Haute Couture piece. This is crazy !

I nibble some snacks while getting ready for this stupide dance. Some robot makes my hair look awkwardly long. They end up doing a sort of ponytail. Another robot is doing my makeup, while others are doing my nails and spilling a product on my skin to make it glow.

My mother comes in, looking flawless in a red short dress. She sits quietly on a chair, next to me.

"You said you would tell me everything remember ?" I say, impatient.

"I know what I said Vera. But, could you please enjoy these kind of moments. Not everyone has the opportunity to get dressed like this, and look this beautiful." she says, with some melancholy.

"I know. But this" I say, moving my arms around the room, showing the robots and myself "this is not what I aspire for my future life. Not at all." I say.

"I know" she whispers, head down. We stay in my bedroom, a hour, talking about what happened on the last episode of The Maze Runner.

Once the car is here, around 9 p.m., we leave for the dance.

A beat dances in the air, bouncing in our bodies, making some people loosing their minds on the dancefloor. And there it goes, one is raising his hand, moving his head from left to right. A woman jumps, trying to reach for something she can't touch. A man screams a loud "wouh" to express his deepest feeling. Now they all clap their hands, at the same time. Once the beat drops, they are all waiting for more, hands in their hair, they knead their scalp. And it goes like this for hours.

I watch M. Marchand loose his mind while moving his feet, throwing glances at me, smiling sometimes and asking me to join him. I gently refuse, saying that I have a headache.

But if only he knew what I have in mind when he does that. I wish I could just run, far from this dance, far from him. But instead of listening to what my heart and head want, I stay like a good girl, sitting on a plastic chair, watching. Watching and praying that the hours will pass quickly. This is not what I was born for. This is not where I belong. This universe is not for me, this is not what I need.

Everytime I move my head to look at another person, I feel my earings hitting my cheeks, making a little noise. I can feel the foundation on my face, keeping me prisonner, the makeup that burns the inside of my eyes, the black eyeliner irritating my skin, the lipstick, to sticky for me. I feel all of it. I feel a huge physical pain. The dress suddenly don't fit me. It prevents me from breathing normally.

In a trice, I loose control and forget about everything that surrounds me, I can only focus on my pain. At first it's physical, material, but as minutes pass, I realize it's not just that. I am not okay. My heart beats faster, my blood rushes through my vains, my breathing is breathless, my sight becomes blurred.

"Breathe" I say to myself over and over again. "Breathe deeply. You will be alright."

I now focus on the air entering my lungs, my body. And I picture that air in a blue colour, not knowing why. And I feel the coolness of this air permeating in my organs. Once I calm down, I faint.

My eyes are burning. I hear some music, but I also hear something else, voices. Worried voices. When I open my eyes, still hurting, I see faces, too many. So I close back my green eyes.

I smell an alcoholic breath, near me, and I recognize M. Marchand's voice.

"Are you alright ?" he asks. "Vera ? Answer me", he adds "Come on, Vera, open your eyes". His voice is calm, he doesn't seem worried. What happened to me ? I fainted. Why ?

"Vera" he is yelling now. I force myself and weakly open my eyes. I discover a face marked by age, eyes, surrounded by wrinkles. His beard is unshaven. Everything about this man is repellent.

"I'm fine" I say, while some guys are helping me getting back on my chair.

"You're sure ?" he asks.

"Yes yes" I say. "Where's my mother ?" I ask.

"Here, I'm here love" she says with a soft voice that sounds so familiar. She takes me in her arms and I can smell her vanilla perfume.

"What happened ?" she asks worried.

"I don't know" I answer moving back from her arms, seeing everybody returning to their duties.

"I need to know what you meant yesterday." I end up saying after a long silence.

"Vera" she says, angry I ask again.

"Please !" I now implore her.

"Fine. I will tell you everything, from the start." she breaks. I smile, happy that I will finally have an answer. "But Vera, you won't interrupt me, and you will try to understand"

"Yes" I answer quickly, wanting the torture to end.

"Vera, please, once you'll know, don't do anything stupid, think about everything. You'll have to act with your wisdom, and with maturity". I nod.

"Okay then, I must start from the beggining" she says. I watch her grab a chair. She sits, crosses her legs, check if no one is watching us and I do the same. She takes a deep breath in, and starts.

"I was about sixteen years old, I was younger than you, when I discovered what I'm about to tell you. I was very young and very immature. But just like you, I was craving for adventure, for someone different, for a different lifestyle. I wanted to marry a heroe, someone who had strength and someone smart. I never desired a man who had a bright future ahead of him. One night I told that to my sister. I told her about my fantasies, thinking that she'll share those with me. But it turned out I was wrong. She got scared about what I told her, not understanding me, so she told my parents. They were so pissed when they learned this" she says laughing.

"I remember their screams, their words. Nothing was making sense to me. I hadn't done anything wrong. But they couldn't understand me and my point of view. As I explained myself more and more, to justify those thoughts, I would loose them more and more. They started believing I went crazy, that I wasn't normal. It freaked them out. So they denounced me to the gouvernment, somehow. I had all of the symptoms of the crazy woman whom you should intern."

She lowers down her voice. I can see some tears gathering in her blue eyes. She holds them and breathe. I put my hand on her arm and encourage her to keep going.

"They decreeted I was crazy during the judgement. They sent me to a center. They threw me in a truck, which drove me to the center. I wasn't the only one. We were many women and men. Young or old, black or white. We were all lined up in front of the building. It was huge, and it had white large walls. They were big and imposing, impressive and scary. On our first day, they warned us to never ever touch these walls. They were electryfied. I remember, one man started screaming, he was yelling, running around and jumping. He was angry and maybe a little bit crazy. So they used him as an example. I witnessed this man touching it, touching the wall. His body was shaking, he was bleeding and no one would help him. Guardians would not move a single finger. They stared at the poor dying man, almost laughing at his destiny. I still can remember the silence of that scene. Nothing was moving, no one was breathing. The only thing we could hear was the noise of the electricity spreading in that man's body." she stops for a moment. I listen, afraid to picture this scene in my mind.

"I had a place where I'd stay at night. I had a bed. Well, it was just a fabric layed on the cold ground made of durt. During the day, we would work in fields, we would clean houses or monuments, we would create clothes or any other object you use every day. Some afternoons, we would all be invited to our boss' office. He would hit some men with his belt or something else. He would rape women and childrens." she stops again, biting her lips and closing her eyes. I know she's trying to expel some images. I sit here, listening, not comprehending all of this. How could this be real ?

"Some of us, I mean some of the women got pregnant. Not only from the boss. There were love stories in the center even though they were forbidden. Our kids were murdered. Not once we would have given birth, but after they had pass their 4th birthday. At least that's what they told us."

"Mom this is awfull" I say, tears in my eyes.

"Do not interrupt me Vera !" she says madly, trying to hold a sob.

"I'm sorry" I whisper.

"I stayed there ten years, I got out. I was kind and calm, I never did anything wrong. They allowed me out, such as they did for others. They made us vow to keep quiet. I met your dad and got married later."

She sees that I'm about to say something but raises a hand in the air to make me stop.

"Your dad knows. That's why he said what he said yesterday. But Vera, it's not just it, they don't just bring us to a center to cure us from our mental desease." she stops and hesitates to keep going. I look at her and interrogate her with my eyes. I don't understand. What could they do ? What was worst than that ?

"They erase our memories, allow us to remember our names, and only our names, and then they introduce us into the Maze" she says.

"What ?" I scream.

"Vera shut up !" she says quickly, worried that someone might have heard me.

"The Maze Runner is not just a serie Vera, it's not a game. It is real, with real people. It takes place in another planet. I had to work inside the building, where they control the Maze Runner game. I was cleaning the floors there. And I saw everything, all of it. If the center isn't enough, if it doesn't change you, they send you to Wicked. Wicked is the organization which created The Maze. They decide who lives and who dies in the game. The childrens we have in the center, they are not killed. They take them away and bring them to Wicked. You can simply stay in Wicked as a watcher of the game, or you can be a player. It all depends on the way you act.

Players are sent to another planet. On this planet, they created different levels for the game. The Maze is the first level. The easiest, somehow. Every part of the planet is a level. If you pass the first level, you live. If you don't, you die.

Look, this thing is simple Vera. If people don't forget about their ideas, about their dreams of wanting adventure, they are send to the center. If over there, they still don't want to change their mind, if they still don't want to respect our gouvernment and what it chooses for them, then it will send you to Wicked, as a player. Wicked will erase everything that you knew. Once you're in this world, on this planet, you can't escape. You fight, you give them entertainment and if you don't, they kill you."

She said that with so much simplicity.

I stand here, eyes wide open. I can not believe it.

"Who are they ? The people working for Wicked ?" I ask.

"Ava Paige is Wicked's leader." she says.

Ava Paige is working for our gouvernment, she is one of the most known person here, on earth. She's respected, she has proven that she was selfless and qualified to lead our planet.

"There must be something we can do to help those who are trapped in this game" I say, determined.

"Vera you can't. It has always been this way. Just deal with the fact that this is dangerous and that you can do nothing."

"No !" I scream. "I can't do that. This is unbelievable. You've seen what they go threw and you stay here, doing nothing !"

"Vera it's too dangerous for you" she says.

"It's dangerous for everyone mother" I say, rising from my chair, putting both of my hands in my hair.

"It is more dangerous for you"

"What does that mean ?" I ask, annoyed.

"You are one of the children that should be at Wicked." she ends up saying.

I turn around, and stare at her, my mouth open. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?

"Your dad, your real dad was also in the center. He died trying to destroy their system Vera." she's crying now.

The person who pretended to be my father is not my father. She lied to me. And I'm learning the truth now, only now ? Why ?

"My father was in the center, I am one of the child who shoud be at Wicked." I repeat after her. Saying this out loud is unbelievable. It sounds crazy, and stupid. That just can't be true. Why would my own mother lie to me ? All these years ? What's the point ? I hear my mother's voice, which drives me away from my thoughts.

"When they released me, I was pregnant, for about 3 months. Your father was supposed to get out 8 months later. I searched for a new job, a new house, I had it all planned so that when he'll get out, we would build a new life, with you, and forget about everything we've been through in this center. But one day, I woke up, and heard that someone tried to blew up the center. Many prisonners escaped, many were hurt. But the person behind that up rising was hanged, after being tortured. And" she stops. She bursts into tears. "Your father's name came on the screen."

After those last words, I suddenly have the feeling that my whole world is falling apart. I never met my father. I grew up without my father. Without knowing why, my heart breaks a little. I take my mother in my arms and join her with some tears.

We stay like that, in each others arms for a very long time. We both know we're trying to deal with our thoughts. I'm trying to understand what just happened. I'm trying to discern wether or not my mother's story makes sense. But deep down inside I know it does. I know she wouldn't lie to me, not about something that important.

"She lied to you about your true father" says my mind. I shut it down. She did, but I'm sure she had a good reason. If she hadn't, I would be in the Maze, fighting, surviving. Or I'd be dead.

"Vera ?" asks a man's voice. I release myself from my mother's embrace and look at M. Marchand. What does he want now ?

"Are you feeling better ?" he asks.

"Yes, I am. Thank you." I say, with a cold voice, hoping that it will make him run away.

"Good. Than I shall drove you both home." he says.

"Finally" my mind screams.

M. Marchand helps my mother. He rises her. Once she is standing on her feet, she looks for her balance. She puts one hand on M. Marchand's shoulder, and another on her forehead. He holds her until we get to the car. On the way home, I look by the window. For the first time I notice. I notice the dirt, the nasty streets. Roads are surrounded by garbages, of all kind. People are wearing suits, black suits. We can't see their skin. In fact if their skin was exposed to the outside air, they would get sick. Just like this man in the corner of this route. His skin is ruined, withered. He doesn't have any hair, any teeth. He has one eye left.

I also notice buildings, enormous buildings. They almost touch the cloudy, brown, almost dark, sky.

After seeing a kid's corpse laying in a gasoline puddle, I turn my face the other way. I ignore the outside, the real world.

It takes us about a hour by car to get home. But once I'm safe, in my bedroom, I sit dowm on my bed. Both of my feet are touching the parquet. I rest both of my elbows on my thighs and I put my face between my hands. I stay like this, in this position for a hour or more, and I cry. I can't remember crying that much before. This day was just too much.

"It's diner time Miss Vera Danckin" says a robot's voice. I rise and go down stairs. I join my parents in the dining room, I sit down and stare at my full plate. I hear the forks and the knives noises. I hear my parents, I mean my mother and her husband, chewing and shallowing their food.

"I want to go to the Maze" I say.

My mother screams, and brings her hand to her mouth to hold another groan. My father, I mean the man in front of me, drops his cultery. He stares at me, worried.

"What ?" he asks after clearing his throat.

"I demand an apointment with Ava Paige. I made up my mind. I will go to the Maze." I say.


	3. Chapter 3 : For if dreams die

Hello there ! So here is Chapter 3 ! I really enjoyed writting it, I love seeing Vera's character growing up in this story and I love the way it's going. I hope you do too ! I want to thank you again for your comments, it's very encouraging. I love knowing that all of you are loving it, and that you can't wait to see in which level she will be send, or which person she likes in Thomas' band... haha I won't give anything away now, just keep reading. But you'll start having your answers in the next chapter.

Thank you for following, enjoy this chapter !

Have a lovely time !

xunxknownx

Chapter 3 : For if dreams die.

I enter a building made with white and dark marble. The stone is shining. The inside of the establishment is clean, very simple and classic. No plants, no trees, nothing else than marble and a desk. The transparent large desk is standing in front of me. One man is behind it. He is starring at me. His pink pupil peer me, which makes me feel unconfortable.

Once I stand right in front of him, I announce my name, saying I have an apointment with Ava Paige. He looks at me, curious.

"I never saw you before" he says. And I nod. "Do you know Madame Paige ?" he asks with an awkward smile.

"No." I briefly answer.

He snaps a button and wait. When a tall woman, dressed in a white suit, walk towards me, he addresses me a couple of words that I don't understand.

When I am in the elevator, still thinking about those words, I finally understand them. He whispered "Good luck.".

I step outside the grey elevator and walk through a large white corridor. There is no flaws, no scratch. It's all perfectly white. The woman with red hair keeps walking, as a robot, straight in front of her. She doesn't speak to me, she does not look around. She opens a door decorated with small red flowers that I've never seen before. I look at them and wonder what they are. But I quickly recover and take my one and only confident look. I breathe in and out, picture the air spilling in my lungs, I straighten myself which makes me look way taller than I was when I entered this building. I close my eyes for a second and remember why I am here. I review every single thought that drove me here.

I know deep inside that I need to do this. For me and for them.

"Ava Paige, it's a pleasure to meet you Vera" says a womanly voice. Ava Paige holds her right hand in front of her, towards me. I look at it and end up tightening this sweaty hand. I discover an old face, marked with tiredness and idleness. Her blue eyes are almost hidden by her dark circles. Her skin is as white as the walls of her office. A red suit is clumsily disposed all over her body. She tried to accord her jewerly with her outfit. But it's a failure.

"The pleasure is mine" I answer politely, smiling back at this awfull person. I know my eyes are throwing knives at her, but I can't help it. When I look at this woman I keep remembering the faces of thousands of people, innocent childrens, women or men she tortured, forced to go to the Maze. The thousands that she probably got killed.

"Have a sit" she says calmly, pointing a large creamy sofa with her long fingers.

I do as I'm told and sit on the divine and confortable sofa. I look on my right side, I am attracted by a large flower vase made in a blue coloured glass. It contains the same flowers that were around the main door.

I feel the bottom of my dress touching my knees. The top is almost strangling me, but I don't care. I stand straight, head up, shoulders away from my ears, eyes right in front of me, I don't stop starring at her. I want to appear strong, I want her to take me seriously.

"I believe there must be a reason why you insisted on meeting me" she says.

"Of course." I say and add "You know my parents obviously ?".

"Yes" she answers while sitting back on her chair, behind a large desk made in glass.

"I work with them every day. And they obey to me, they're very" she hesitates and continues "they're hard workers." she ends up saying.

She pulls on her tiny white dress to make it go down. With her left hand she replaces some stands of hair. Her blue eyes are looking behind me, trough me, as if I wasn't here, which annoys me. This woman doesn't impress me that much after all. She's tiny, fat, doesn't know how to dress well, her room isn't clean. But I must admit that the view this room offers is breathless. It gives me the confidence I need to take such decisions.

"I want you to send me in the Maze" I briefly say in a grave voice.

She breathes in so fast that I can see her chest going up, her muscles in her neck contracting and her face tensing.

"What ?" she asks scraping her throat.

"You heard me" I say. I'm being carefull not to move any part of my body, so that I don't let any feeling appear.

"I have no reason to send you there." she says looking on her left side while raising herself up. She stands in front of me, looking at me from above, probably thinking that it will impress me. But it does not.

"My father was killed in the center. My mother got pregnant in the center. I'm one of the center's child. I do not belong here, on earth among your kind." I say articulating every words.

"Why do you want to be send in the Maze ?" she asks turning around. She's now looking at the view her windows offer. I'm facing her back. It destabilizes me.

"I'd rather die among people who are killing to survive than die among people who are killing to divert." I say with a clear and strong voice.

"You have some nerve for a girl your age" she says turning around, looking at me, surprised by my fortitude.

"You must have some nerve to decide whether or not to murder an innocent and ignorent human being" I say tightening my teeth.

She smiles at me.

"You won't last long there, in the Maze" she says.

"Well, we'll see" I say.

"We will in fact." she concludes. Now I know, she made her will send me to the Maze. Convincing her wasn't that dificult, facing her wasn't that dificult either. But what will happen to me won't be easy. I can feel it already.

"As every kid who has, and will be send to the Maze, you will recieve a formation. You will stay in an establishment among other kids, teenagers, adults. You will stay here for a week. After that your memory will be erased and you will be thrown into the Maze. After a couple of days, you will remember your name, and only your name. You will have the same percentage of chances to survive as others, which is 30%. If the watchers of the serie like you, get attached to you, your percentage will improve, if not, it won't and you'll get killed on our command."

"Where will I be send in the Maze ? In which level ?" I ask interrupting her.

"I don't know yet, it will depend on your abilities, on your capacities that we will evaluate during your one week formation. But don't expect to be send with Thomas and his band. They are becoming out of hand and we don't like that. They are a situation we're trying to handle." she says, pleating her yes.

She's worried. Are there any chances that they represent a threat ?

 _Dear diary_

 _That day I felt wings in my back. I felt like I finally did something good for me and for others. I was determined. I knew I would make a change, help them realize what this is all about. But I didn't know how long it will take to get there._

 _I spent a week training, meeting people, making friends in this weird establishment. We were all talking about where we were heading. We were all diferent but we all had something in common, we had anger, we had the envy to change the rules of the game. But we also, were all aware that our memories would be erased. So we knew we would end up just like everyone else. We would get lost in the game, we would kill to survive and die because we fell in love with the wrong person or because we made a wrong decision._

 _In this securised building, we were taught how to fight, how tu run, how to cook, how to clean, how to build, how to think. I took extra classes to learn how to survive on my own, I learned different languages. Time passed to quickly in that establishment. The final day was arriving at big steps._

 _And I am not going to lie, I was afraid, truly afraid. I could feel it in my body. Sometimes when I would think about the Maze I would start shaking. And I couldn't control it._

 _Two days before our departure, Aya and I were in a big croud, standing. That's when she came out. Her blond fake hair came out of the room above us. She was standing on a balcony, looking at every single one of us, remembering our faces probably. She was standing tall, with a contemptuous look. There she was, Ava Paige._

 _"My dear" she started. Aya took my hand and squeezed it. This woman was frightening her. She was frightening most of the people in this room, but not me. The croud was assembled in the center of a room. We were surrounded by men, wearing dark blue suits and weapons. The cieling was far from us, white, without a scratch. Everything seemed to have been made to frighten us. But at that very moment I wasn't feeling any fear, at all. My rage and curiosity were so intense._

 _"I am thankfull that you" she continued._

 _"That you have volunteered to participate to the game. I believe in every single one of you. I believe in your strength, your mental health, your abilities. You will, hopefully, all survive." she said smiling, knowing that this was just a lie. She hoped we would all die._

 _"You will get ready to depart tonight." she said._

 _The croud started talking, whispering at first but it became louder. We were supposed to leave in two days only. We all guessed something might have happened, something they didn't like. Something got out of control. And without having to say it, just by looking in each others eyes, we knew, they were scared._

 _But I knew what made them so afraid._

 _Thomas' band was finally starting to understand what was going on. They were a real threat._

"Vera?" asks a tiny voice next to me. I look at Aya. Her blue eyes are wide open, her small white face is marked by tension. Her ginger hair are laying down on her shoulders, she is wearing a brown suit, with brown boots. Her bright natural pink lips are trying to force a smile. She is the cutest being I have ever seen. The most innocent as well.

"Yes ?" I answer.

"Do you know why we must leave this soon ?" she asks raising both of her arms toward me. I grabb her in my arms and hold her on my right side. I can feel her breath in my hair.

"No sweety, I don't. But maybe Miss Paige will tell us why." I say.

A man in the crowd, who isn't older than 40 years old, raises his arm and yells. "Why do we have to leave so soon ?"

"You don't need to know why Sir." Ava Paige says and I can notice the fear in her voice. Nothing is happening the way she planned.

The tall and muscular man laughs. Everyone in the crowd shut up. We all look at this man, worried. And time seems to stop. Everything is quiet. No one moves, no one talks.

The man puts both of his arms around him, in the air, and he turns around. He looks at us, in our eyes. He takes the time to thank us, only by looking at us in the eyes When he looks at me, I can see the fear and the sadness. He only knows both of this feelings. It's like he forgot what it was like to live, to love and to be happy.

We all notice his eyes, filled with tears.

"I had a daughter once." he starts saying. He nods, not knowing why. All eyes on him, he keeps talking.

"She was your age" he says pointing at Aya. My heart stops and breaks a little. "She was so beautiful !" his voice smashes and his mouth winces. He is holding a sob. "With her grey eyes and tanned skin. She was so small, so tiny. I remember the first day she came on earth, when her mother gave her life for her. I could hold her in my hand. She was mine, she was my baby. I loved her with all my heart and I always will. She was my treasure, my gold, my happiness." he says crying.

"Her name was Pola. She was 6 years old." he stops, waits. When he sees the guardians holding to their weapons, and marching towards him, he hurries. And raising his voice, after taking a deep breath and pointing at Ava Paige, he says "But this monster killed her, in front of my fucking eyes ! She was only 6 years old for god's sake ! I hate you and all of your fucking games ! One day you will die, you will pay for everything that you've done to us. And I hope this day will come soon. I won't be here to see it, but I know you'll die suffering, in pain. Paying for the harm you did to my daughter, to Pola. My one and only true reason to live. I won't ever forget that moment, when I saw her, out of breath, reaching for my help. But I couldn't do a thing. Her throat around a fucking rope. This monster got her hangged." he stops again, looks around him one last time. He yells "YOU WILL BURN IN HELL YOU BITCH" and with a calmer voice he adds "For Pola, for me, for my wife, my family, fight. Please, all of you, fight for us. So that our death won't be pointless." and he pulls the trigger. His brain blows off. Aya and other childrens scream. Their eyes are wide open, their mouth as well. Their faces are marked by revulsion and misunderstanding. They are too young to know what this means. They are way too young to see this.

In a reflex, as if she was my sister, I put my hand on her eyes, hide the view of the man's dead body from her. He's laying on the ground. He is not moving, his face is deformed, the bullet destroyed his eyes. All I can see is blood and some pieces of brown hair and white skin, mixed, spreading on the white ground.

The guardians are now around him, they put a bullet in his heart to make sure he's dead, as if he had any chance to still be alive. The detonation resonates in my body.

The crowd is silent and motionless.

I then look above, on the blacony, there's no one. Ava Paige is gone. When did she leave ? It's a mystery.

The guardians wrap the dead body in a dark blanket. They raise him up and walk. They dissapear behind another white wall, carrying with them the man's corpse and soul. We all look at the scene, surprised. We don't know what to think, what to say. I guess that everyone is feeling as I feel. His last few words are wandering in my brain. "Her throat around a fucking rope. This monster got her hangged.". I see his face's expression again. I see his pain, I almost feel his pain.

Aya clamps me with all her strength. Her head is burried between my neck and my shoulder. I feel her tears rolling down on my skin, leaving traces of water on my brown suit. I pass my hand in her ginger hair while I close my eyes. I try to chase the picture of the dead body.

"Go back to your room. You will have your training at 2 p.m. as always." screams a guardian. We obey and we start ranking in lines.

With Aya in my arms, I walk, heading toward our dormitory. I finally enter a dirty room. Beds are arranged in a line, against the wall full of mark and writtings. People wrote their names, dates, poems on it, trying to pass time.

I lay Aya on her fragile bed. I overlay a blanket on her skinny body. She curls herself, holds her legs in her arms and squeezes them. I lay next to her, above the blanket. I take her in my arms.

"You will be fine" I whisper in her ears. "I'll look after you." I add.

"You won't even remember me" she says crying.

"How could I forget such a beautiful person, with such beautiful hair." I say while I pass my hand on them once again, styling them. She unwinds, slightly. I can smell her natural fruity perfume. I can't describe it, it smells like nature, woods.

We stay like this for a hour. Aya falls asleep, and I look at her. I see her chest going up and down. I focus on her breathing. Her small hands are hanging my arms.

"Her throat around a fucking rope. This monster got her hangged". I run, and run, faster and faster. But it keeps chasing me. I scream. I am so afraid. I don't know what is happening to me. Why is it so dark ? Where am I ? I manage to hide behind a piece of plastic. Head in my hands, I swing my body from left to right. What is going on ?

"HELP ME" screams a child voice. I unbend my head, I open my eyes and try to see something. I try to follow the voice I heard. I walk between cars, old cars, I hear awkward noises. I don't recognize them at first, but then they become clearer. People are whispering. "Be carefull."

"Vera" they are now screaming my name. "RUN VERA, RUN" their screams are so loud. I can't see them, I can't see around me, but I obey, as always. I run, again and again, until I am out of breath.

I wake up, in tears and out of print. I look around me and see the dormitory.

"It was just a dream" I whisper to myself. Aya is still in my arms, asleep. I breathe slowly, trying to find my balance, my coolness.

The alarm rings, it awakes Aya. I look at her, and as I did everytime before our training, I grab her face in my hands.

"It's time to get smarter" I say.

"Are we leaving tonight ?" she asks with a sleepy voice. I nod. I am glad she forgot what she saw this morning.

"Are you ready to go ?" I ask.

"Are you ?" she asks back. I don't answer to her. I take her to her first class. As she is only a 6 year old child, they teach her some medicine, some plants usefulness. They don't force her to learn how to fight, or how to shoot, which I'm thankfull for. Once I drop her in front of one of those many silvered doors, I step outside and join my class.

All of us are lined up, straight, with our hands behind our back. We look right in front of us. They dispose guns on the ground, to our feet. One woman looks at those guns, she moves her face. The soldier sees it and hit her in the belly with one of the gun. This action makes me jump. But no one sees it.

"Grab your gun" he yells from the inside of a tiny shanty. We obey. I never thought a gun was that heavy. I try to hold it the best I can. But I drop it. Afraid, I look at the soldier. He is wearing a black suit and a white cap. He looks at me.

I don't move, I stay tall and assume that I dropped it. He walks by me. When he stands in front of me, I can smell his disgusting perfume. I guess it was very expensive.

"I said grab your gun" he repeats, just so that everyone around me can hear him. I lower myself down and grab the heavy gun. I hardly can hold it, but I don't give up.

The soldier stays in front of me, he doesn't stop starring at me. His eyes plunged in mine. He hates me, he despises me. I look back at him, support his eye look.

When he notices this, he smiles. It is a nasty smile.

"Now shoot the target that is in front of you" he says, staying in front of me.

I look behind him and I notice the target. Far from me. He doesn't move, knowing that this way, he will be an obstacle for me.

I tighten up my embrace around the gun, I lift it up. It passes between the soldier's neck and shoulder. I be carefull not to touch him.

I give him one last gaze. He screams "Shoot !" loudly. His scream resounds in my ear. But as he orders I shoot. And as planned, I miss my target.

He turns around, look at my target and whispers "You missed it." He turns right back at me. His eyes are filled with an emotion I can't describe. An emotion I've never seen before.

He snatches the gun from my hands and he kicks me in the face. I instantly fall on the ground. I feel the pain, spreading from my cheek to my brain. I feel a shock in my hands, legs and heart. He hits me one more time with his feet in my belly. I cough loudly. I try to breathe but I can't. I feel a fist inside my chest. My eyes hurt, my body feels so weak, the pain is too intense. I never felt that in my entire life.

I manage to see the soldier squatting. He looks at me, and smiling he says "I hope you'll die there.". He gives me another blow in my belly. I jump, my body squeezes itself, I turn around, bring all of my body weight on one side. This position allows me to reduce the physical ache I am enduring in every part of my body.

"Next time you'll have a crazier idea, like joining the Maze, remember this moment. You are nothing, you are weak and vulnerable." he says.

My body can't hold the soreness any longer so I faint.

When I manage to open my eyes, I notice all the white around me. It agresses me, so I close back my eyes. I focus on my feelings. My belly hurts me so badly. I feel myself drifting away. I feel the weakness that took possession of me. The soldier was right. I am no one. What was I thinking ? That I would make a difference ? I have nothing more than the people here. My memory will be erased, I will forget everything, everyone. And I'll die, trying to survive. If I can't even shoot a standstill target, how will I shoot a moving creature ?

The fear invades me.

"Vera ?" asks someone. I open my eyes, well, at least I try. I open it once but it's still too hard.

"It's okay, don't force yourself. As long as you can hear me, it's fine." she says.

"Who are you ?" I mutter.

"You don't need to know that." she says while grabbing my hand. She holds it softly. I don't recognize this voice.

"You never should've come here, you know that." she says.

"But now, you can't go back. You will be send in the Maze in 30 minutes. You've been unconscious for the whole afternoon. This soldier didn't go easy on you. I'm so sorry" she says crying.

In 30 minutes ? I need to see Aya, I need to talk to her, I need to reassure her, to hide her somewhere. She can not be send in the Maze.

"Aya ?" I moan.

"What ?" the woman doesn't understand what I say, what I'm desperatly trying to say. Since I don't have any strength, when I try to say her name again, I fail. The woman keeps talking. I don't understand much. I am just so afraid of leaving. I need to see my parents, to see Aya. I need to wake up from this nightmare. This can not be real, this can not be true.

I panic. But with my eyes closed, with my muscles destroyed, I can't escape. I hear more voices around me.

"Get out" a man screams to someone.

"Get her to the main room. It's time we send her." he says.

"NO" my head screams. "Don't send me there." I think I am crying, but I am not. I didn't speak at all. My body doesn't respond to my brain anymore.

I see lights above me, walls around me. Then I see darkness, tissus around me. I feel water, warm water on my legs. I feel a cream on my face, a substance being spread all over my body. It's sticky.

All I can think of is Aya. I don't want her to be afraid, I don't want her to be scared. She's only just a child, you can't hurt her. My mind keeps focusing on her. I think I pray, I pray for her, for her life. I pray for her innocence.

I vow to myself that I have to find her once I'm in the Maze. I need to find Aya. "Never ever foget her, her ginger hair, her smile, her eyes, her voice, her breath. Remember" I repeat to myself quietly. "Don't forget." I say over and over again.

I feel a needle in my left arm, on my right leg, in my neck. And I can hear Ava Paige's voice.

"Wicked is good" she says. Her words don't distract me at all.

"Aya, Aya" I say. "Find Aya".

And all I can see is dark. It's all dark. I don't feel a thing. I am not me, I am no one. Everything dies around me and inside me.

"Wicked is good" and "Find Aya" or "Ginger hair" are the only things that I hear.

For a moment, I feel my body floating in the air. "Gravity" I think. But I don't know why. Nothing makes sense. I then feel my body being attracted by something powerfull. My mind leaves me, my brain stops thinking.

"AYA" I scream before everything else dissapear.


	4. Chapter 4 : Life is a broken-winged bird

_Hello there ! I'm kinda new here, on so I don't really know how the site works. Therefore I don't know if I'm able to answer your comments or not... Anyway, this was just to tell you again, as I do in every intro, that I love recieving your positive comments ! Like when I read them I feel super excited ! And then, during the day I'll just remember them and it will make me smile. So I wanna thank you for that! I feel like this story is going exactly where I want it to go, so I'm very happy with it. I love how Vera is thinking, what she is doing. I love writting about her ! AND be carefull, big spoiler haha : everyone likes a little romance in a story...so you know what to expect. But who will it be ? haha Sorry for torturing you, I still have no idea ! This chapter will sort of bring you the informations you were asking for in the previous comments though. So I won't bother you any longer with this intro and I'll let you discover what happens ! Enjoy the reading ! Have a nice time ! Love from xunxknownx_

Chapter 4 : Life is a broken-winged bird.

I feel dirty. I'm sweating but I am not even moving. I'm laying on the ground.

Why am I laying on the ground ? I think about this question and I try to find an answer but I can't. I move my fingers one by one, my feet, then my legs and I end up moving my face.

I discover that the ground I am laying on is soft. It moves with my body, it embraces my forms. I breathe in. The air is thick, humid and heavy. I am not used to this.

As my mind awakes slowly, I realize what is going on. I know that something is wrong. I plunge my hands in the ground and surprisely I manage to grab something that seems to be sand. I grab it and stir it.

What is happening ?

I open my eyes to look for answers. The agressive sunlight burns my eyes. I blink many times to get used to this lightening. It hurts me, physically. I feel like I've never known such a light. It's pure and natural.

Natural ? This word isn't common in my language. Where am I ? Where do I come from ? Who am I ?

What's my name ?

My breathing speeds up. I can feel my heart beating faster in my chest. I sense the blood rushing inside my veins. I lift my chest up, taking a sitting position. The landscape seems to rotate for a minute. My head is heavy, I have the impression that something is knocking inside it.

Head in between my dirty hands, I breathe slowly. I try to forget about the hotness of the air. I look down at my legs and find out that I'm not wearing anything. I am naked, in the middle of nowhere. Surprised and afraid, I straighten out my face in a very quick mouvment. I look around me, try to see if anyone is watching me. But all I see is orange sand. I'm in the middle of a desert. There's nothing, not a tree, no buildings, nothing else but sand and the sun. I put my arms above my boobs and try to hide it. Even though I'm alone here, I have the feeling someone is watching me.

I look around me for the 7th time. And I still don't see a thing. I roll my face from left to right, I analyse every corner. I know I should get on my feet and start walking to find a refuge, but I can't. I feel weak, my body is sore. I don't know why.

"Think" says my mind. "What happened to you ?" it asks. "Why do you have so many injuries?" but as every other question I've asked myself, there is no answer.

Suddenly, a mouvment attracts my attention. I see something, not very far from me. I freak out when the word "human" crosses my mind. What if it's someone who wants to kill me ?

What is this thing ? It's too far from me so I can't tell. But it's getting closer, I think it is coming closer.

I then realize it's a sheet that floats in the air. The wind gets up. My hair fall down on my eyes. I push them away with one hand.

With both hands in the sand, I push myself up. My body is heavier than I thought. It takes me a while before I find my balance. Half bending, I cover the wound I have on my belly with my right arm, and I manage to walk in that weird position. I hurry, frighten that someone might see me naked. Once I get to the sheet, I snatch it from a stake and I wrap it around me.

With my hair in the wind, I walk. I walk through many sand dunes. Every step I make is harder than the previous. Every two steps, the sheet is falling down. I try to hold it still on my shoulder, but it's not tied very well.

After a hour or two, I start feeling my mouth getting dry. I look above me. I see the blue sky. There are some clouds, but there is no way that it will rain today.

I feel so lonely, so hot, so tired, so thirsty. I just want to give up. I want to go back.

"Where do you want to go back?" I wonder.

To chase every question that I can't answer, I start singing an old song that I once new. This way I start forgetting about my pain and my exhaustion. I walk two hours like that. When I stop whispering the rythm of the song, I fall down on the scorching ground. It burns my skin. My eyes closed, I can't move anymore, I know I won't be able to walk again, or even to stand up.

Why am I so weak ?

"Help me" I whisper before I fall in a deep tormented sleep.

I think I open my eyes a couple of times. But I can't remember. There was light at first. Everything was really sunny. All I could sense was the heat.

Who am I ? What's my name ?

I see a woman's eyes, right in front of me. Am I hallucinating ? These eyes seem so familiar. I know them so well, they are filled with love, the way they starre at me !

"Mom ?" I ask. But no one answers. I'm alone, here, laying in a desert. How did I end up here ? What the fuck have I done ?

I close my eyes, once again and fall asleep, focusing on my stomach ache.

When I wake up, the light is darker. Are we at night ? I have the impression that someone is stabing me, over and over again, in the back, in my cheek, in my leg, everywhere. It's so powerfull. And it seems so real. Why are they hurting me ? What have I done ?

"Leave me alone" I say crying. I just want it to stop. I want the torture to end. Just end it.

"Just kill me, please" I say.

"I won't" someone answers.

But before I can ask anything, wonder if I dreamt, or think about what happened, I fall back to sleep.

"We can't risk it Thomas" says a girl. I know her voice, I've already heard it somewhere. Thomas ? I also know this name. Who are these people ? Am I dreaming ?

I keep my eyes close and try to evaluate the distance between my body and their voices. I try to imagine what is around me, where I am, what I'm wearing, if I'm in danger or not. All I conclude, is that, I'm wearing a pair of comfortable pants and a t-shirt. My wounds are still hurting me, but less than hours ago. My body seems clean, the air isn't thick or hot anymore. It's almost pleasant. I'm not thirsty and I'm laying on a soft bed.

"So what do we do ?" asks a guy, that I suppose to be Thomas. When he talks, I realize that they're far from me. In an instant, my eyes are wide open and I'm on my feet, ready to run or to fight. But there's no one. I look around me. I didn't make any noise, there is no sign of danger.

I hear other people talking, answering to Thomas. I take this opportunity to look around me. I have a needle in my left arm, I take it off. I assemble my hair in a ponytail and tie them this way. I drink the glass of water that was on the side of my bed. I see lines of clothes and bags, full of food and water. I open them and grabb a chocolate bar that I find at the top of a pile. I eat it, slowly, enjoying its taste. I can feel myself getting stronger as I walk, drink and eat. I still pay attention to the voices that I hear. But I do not listen to their conversation. I don't know this people. They might cause me harm. I need to escape from this place.

I can't explain it, but I have this feeling when I hear their voices, when I hear them pronouncing their names. I know something is wrong, I know they represent danger. But I don't know if my mind is thinking straight.

I find an empty bag that seems to have been thrown in a hurry. I open it and fill it with bottles of water, food, tissus, and other things that I find usefull. On my way to the door, I find a gun, laying on a wooden furniture. It reminds me of something, I have the memory right in front of me, I know I can see it, I know I've seen this before. But I can't fucking remember ! This annoys me so much ! I greet one's teeth.

I pick up the gun, and put it inside my pant. I turn around to see if I forget anything and I notice this window. I haven't paid attention to it earlier. But it will be easier to get out from here by this window than by the front door.

I block the front door with a stick. I start hearing the voices getting closer to me. I panick and look around me, what do I do ? Without wasting more time, I grab a rock and throw it into the window. It breaks in millions pieces. The glass spreads on the ground. I climb on the desk that is right under the broken window. I pass on the other side of the room and jump on the ground made of sand. I'm still in the desert. I look at my bleeding hands! "What an idiot !" I say to myself. What was I thinking ? That the glass won't cut my skin ?

"FUCK !" screams a guy, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"What ?" another asks.

"She fucking escaped !" he yells. I hear them forcing on the door, trying to open it. But they fail.

"Get out by the front door !" screams a woman.

And I hear their steps on the ground made of old wood. The building seems old.

As soon as I hear this, I know what I have to do. I grabb my bag with both of my hands and run. One feet after another, I run fast, quicker. I try to control my breath. I breathe in two times and breathe out one big time. I run again and again. I pass between other tall buildings. They scare me. The sunlight agresses my face sometimes.

I turn right and then I turn left. I go inside what looks like a parking. I'm plunged in darkness. I try to erase my track. And I come out of the parking lot after a long run.

I slow down a little bit and take a breath. I already feel exhausted. Then suddenly my belly tears apart. I scream, loudly and both of my knees fall on the ground. I put my left hand on my open wound and squeeze it. They opened my belly. Why ? Thinking about it, I understand. My wound was recent, maybe my organs were touched. But when I woke up, the scar wasn't completely closed. And now, it's wide open. Tears appear in my eyes. The pain spreads in every one of my nerve.

"I don't have time for this" I say to myself. And with some strength I never knew I had, I raise myself up and get back in my race.

"HEY!" someone screams behind me. I turn my face around and I see a man's silhouette. He is running after me.

Afraid, I turn left, I continue. He turns left as well. I feel my skin, wide open, the blood is rolling down on my white skin and staining my t-shirt.

I turn left once again, just after a board. I see a tiny street and turn right, I plunge in this dark alley, not knowing where it will lead me. I run, a couple more meters and stop. Out of breath, out of strength. This street uncorks on a dead-end. I look around me. "No, no, no, no" I say. "Please, this can't happen now !" I say to myself. I hear the guy's steps getting closer. He's coming. With the hand I have left, I grabb the gun and hold it in front of me. I shriek when a shock browse my body. My stomach can't hold it any longer. I know it.

The guy is now standing in front of me. I try to keep my eyes open, I struggle to stay awake. "I can't faint" I scream to myself.

He brings both of his hands in front of him "We don't wanna hurt you" he says with an out of breath voice. He is also trying to recover from this run.

I squeeze the gun and put a finger on the trigger. When I'm about to shoot him, a memory goes through my mind.

 **"For Pola, for me, for my wife, my family, fight. Please, all of you, fight for us. So that our death won't be pointless." and he pulls the trigger. His brain blows off.**

I remember the man's dead body laying on the ground. Ginger hair. I remember ginger hair as well. Where was that ? Where did this happen ? Who was he ?

This memory comes back to me, as if I just lived it two minutes ago. I blink my eyes. My mouth open.

I whisper "Who are you ?".

"My name is Minho" says the man in front of me. His eyes are wide open too. He starres at me, at the gun and at my finger. I know he's afraid I might shoot him. And he can be, because that's what I was about to do. But something keeps me from doing it. I know him. His eyes look so familiar. Why do I have this feeling that I've grown up with him ? Gosh nothing makes sense ! I was about to kill him and now I feel like we have a connection ? What's wrong with me ?

He slowly walks by me.

"Stop !" I yell.

Raising my voice wasn't a good idea, I feel my stomach ache again and cry out my pain. In a few seconds, Minho has taken the gun out of my hands and he catches me up before I fall on the ground. He throws the gun far from us and pushes on my wound. He grabbs my face with one hand and shakes it. "Stay with me, don't faint" he says.

"GUYS OVER HERE" he yells so that the others find him. About two more men join us, and I distinguish one woman with them. I look at them, one by one. My body doesn't obey to what my brain orders him to do.

One of the guy grabbs me in his arms and takes me back to the place I escaped from. While the rest of them talk. I manage to hear some words.

"We will keep her" says a voice that I recognize, it's Thomas.

"We don't know her ! She could be send by Wicked." says the girl.

"Why would they send a woman, half dead ?" he asks.

"Look Thomas, I don't know. But we just can't risk it. They are already looking for us !" and I can recognize the sound of fear in her voice.

"You think I don't know that ?" he asks raising his voice.

I think we stop for a moment, because the landscape isn't rotating anymore. They start yelling at each other, getting mad.

"Guys, could you please shut up !" says the guy who is holding me. "I think for now, we should just go back to where we were staying. We will talk about this later. We have other priorities for now !" he adds.

Nobody says anything, they all follow, and we walk in a deep and awkward silence.

The sky is blue, the clouds are all slowly moving to the right. The sun is hidden behind a dark large cloud. I see a bird, he's black and he looks tiny. He flies in a circle form and dissapears. I feel the wind making my hair rise, drying my skin, making me forget about the heat burning me.

I look at the buildings, they're all destroyed. Sheets are flying, they're colourfull. Some of them are blue, yellow or red. But I think some of them are also covered in blood. The ground is made of dirt. I think I recognize an old road. I see a bus, crashed on the side of the road. A red car has been abandonned right in front of an entrance. It's grey, everything is grey. Doors, walls, everything. I distinguishe some trees, not as green as I thought they were. They don't have any leaves. For a moment I almost forget where I am, or what I'm feeling.

The guy who was carrying me in his arms drops me on the bed. Right where I was when I woke up.

"Don't try to escape this time" he says, smiling. His smile reveals a dimple, his eyes are filled with humour. But I don't have the energy to smile back at him. He raises his self up, and calls for a girl named Theresa. She enters in the room, examinate me, and close back my scar, without being very gentle. After 30 minutes of moaning, hallucination and pain, she's done.

"What's your name ?" she asks with a cold voice. And I think about this, I've asked myself the same question about a hundred times. When she sees that I can't answer her, she tries to reassure me "It's okay, all of us forgot about our name when we got here."

"How long have I stayed there ?" I ask showing the room.

"Two days. You've slept during two days. We found you in the desert while we were on our way to the mountains."

"The mountains ?" I ask.

"Yes." she briefly answers. And I guess that since she doesn't know me, she doesn't want to tell me more about their plans. A tall man enters the room, he leans toward me to take my pulse. I lean back at first, taking my distance, being carefull.

"It's fine, I won't hurt you" he says. "Do you mind if we all stay in the room with you ?" he asks me.

"No" I say. Theresa looks at him, worried, interrogating him with her eyes.

"Guys !" the guy yells.

Minho comes in running "She escaped again ?" he asks, and as soon as he sees me laying in the bed, he loosens himself and with a nod, he retires his last sentence, "forget it" he adds.

"I'm Newt" says a blond guy who comes in. I nod and smile to salute him.

"Thanks for carrying me" I say. He smiles back at me. Theresa watches me. She doesn't really like me apparently.

"I'm Thomas" says another guy. I look at him. Fuck ! Why do I always have the impression to know this guy ?

"And well I'm Minho" says the dark haired tall man. "I know" screams my mind.

"Why did you run away ?" asks Theresa, her eyes, filled with an emotion I can't describe.

"I don't know you" I say, as if it was an excuse.

"It has been days since she arrived here, she should at least remember her name right ?" she asks to the others.

I look at everyone's reaction. Is what she is saying really a bad sign ?

"Maybe she needs more time" says Thomas.

"She won't be of any use. She will slow us down" says Theresa between her teeth. She hates me now, there's no doubt.

"Theresa !" says Minho.

"Have you seen her wound Minho ?" she says.

"Yes I have. And I also have seen her running with this wound. And let me tell you she was pretty good. If we were still in the Maze, she would've been a runner." he says. But I can only focus on the word "Maze". I've heard this somewhere before.

Then, suddenly, everything comes back to me, as if it was an evidence. The man's suicide, the Maze, the desert. Yes ! It all makes sense now.

And as if I was alone in the room, I talk to myself "My name is Vera. I'm Vera, Vera Danckin" I say, smiling.


	5. Chapter 5 : That can not fly

_Good morning ! I finally ended up being happy with what I wrote for chapter 5, so I'm posting it ! It took me quite a long time to come up with the idea and to put it down on paper, and I hope you'll enjoy it ! Do you like listening to some music while you're reading ? Because personally I do, and I wrote this chapter with the Outlander soundtrack in my ears so, if you want to do the same, feel free ! P.S. : who watches Outlander ? Because I'm a huge fan of this serie ! Anyway, have a nice time reading, and I'll see you in 5 days for a new chapter !_

Chapter 5 : That can not fly.

And as if I was alone in the room, I talk to myself : "My name is Vera. I'm Vera, Vera Danckin" I say, smiling. "I'm 18 years old" I add.

"You know your age ?" asks Thomas surprised.

"What else do you remember ?" asks Theresa.

"Wicked" I say "I remember Wicked. And the word, the Maze, I know it, I've heard it before, but I can't remember what it actually is."

"What do you remember from Wicked ?" asks Newt while passing his left hand in his blond hair. As an automatism I answer "Wicked is good.". Thomas rolls his eyes. He squeezes his hands together. Biting his bottom lips, he whispers "Ava Paige".

Suddenly, ginger hair come to my mind, but I chase this thought, and focus on everyone's reaction. Theresa, is now sitting down, on a white chair, her face in her hands. Thomas joins her, he leans in front of her, and whispers some words. They talk about me, I know it, but I can't hear what they say. I don't need to. I already know what's their debate. Newt joins them. Minho, who stands against the damaged wall, looks down at his feet, while playing with his fingers.

"I'm Vera Danckin" I repeat to myself quietly.

Can I really trust this people ? I don't know them, this place, this room, I feel like I'm drowning. I raise myself up, hardly, but I manage to stand on both of my feet. Minho looks at me moving, he doesn't say a thing. I start walking and I quit the room.

"Where is she going ?" asks Theresa, and I guess she raises from her sit to follow me.

"I think she needs to be alone for a moment" says Minho. And I thank him quietly. I do need to be alone, with my thoughts and the bit of memories I have left. I need to clean up the inside of my head, to put some order in my brain and to find a sense at what's happening to me. I know I'm missing something. Something very important to me. I walk, still with one hand on my wound. Putting one feet, in front of the other one, is harder than ever. I don't go very far. I simply get outside. I need to breathe some fresh air. The sun is down, the moon is up. It's shining, and full. The landscape is breathless. All I can see are ruins. Old buildings, broken cities, broken boards, broken roads and sand. There is no life, not a sign of life. No animals running around, not a sound, no green plants, no human besides the people I'm with. It's scary but at the same time it's relaxing.

My name is Vera and I'm 18 years old. What else do I remember ? What is so important for me ? I stay a long time here, sitting on a sidewalk, waiting for my memories to come back to me. And at one point I catch a sight of what looks like a memory. I wasn't suppose to be send here, with them, with Thomas' band. But why was I ? What about this man who killed himself ? He asked us to fight for him and for his daughter. Pola ? Who was she ? Have I ever known a Pola in my life ? My brain keeps thinking. Voices keep talking, screaming or whispering. All of it is too loud, too fuzzy, it freaks me out, but it also drives me crazy. I'm not used to forgetting things.

I hear someone behind me. I turn around too quickly, scared, but I recognize Newt.

"Can I ?" he asks, pointing the place next to me. I nod. He replaces his jacket with his right hand and sits next to me. He puts his elbows on his knees and stays like that, he starres right in front of him.

"You should drop it you know ? Stop torturing yourself. You won't remember anything else." he ends up saying.

"I can't." I simply answer.

We stay like this for a moment. An awkward silence settles. I decide to break it.

"What do you remember ?" I ask. He looks at me, surprised. "From when you first got here ?" I add, understanding that my phrase didn't make any sense.

"My name, and one phrase pronounced by a woman, Ava Paige, "Wicked is good". That's what we all remember." he says. "You're the only one, who remembers her age" he adds, with a proud smile.

I keep looking in front of me. "I know there's something else, something more important." I say, and then continue "I know something else, but I can't remember what it is. It's like something is keeping me from it. I have a wall seperating me from my past, from this important thing, but I can't destroy it".

"We all felt the same way. But this feeling will dissapear I promise." he says.

"I don't want it to dissapear." I think, but instead of saying it out loud, I change the subject. "You talked about something called, the Maze earlier. What is it ?".

"You want the whole story ?" he asks. I nod. He takes a deep breath in. Minho joins us, he sits right next to Newt and takes the same position. He almost never speaks. The only time he spoke to me, was during that run, when I was holding a gun. Well, maybe he doesn't trust me neither, so he keeps his distance.

"I woke up in a metal cage. All I could see was blue lights, around me. It was dark, and I was feeling very oppressed, confused and lost. The cage was going up, faster and faster."

"It was very scary" adds Newt.

"But then, at some point, it stopped, and the top of it opened itself. I remember seeing the sunlight, the sky was so blue. I never saw that before. It was pure, and natural, and simple. It felt good. The air was clean, smooth, and the smell of it was just indescribable." he says, looking above him.

"Yeah I remember that too." says Minho.

"Then every guy that were in the Maze, came. I saw about 4 faces above me, they were looking at me like I was some kind of treasure. Their eyes were wide open. I thought they were scared. Which made me feel safer. Their faces seemed very familiar as well. They got me out of the cage, and explained me everything, showed me everything. They made me pass some tests, and I ended up taking care of the fields, for our food and stuff like that." says Newt.

He laughs and exclaims "Sorry ! I don't think you" and remembering my name, he starts over "sorry, Vera. I don't think you actually give a fuck about how I ended up working in the fields." I nod, smiling.

"The Maze was a green space, like a large park. There were grass, woods, a small river. The first men who got there built shelter and weapons. This place, our home, was surrounded by a large and long wall. It was opening on morning, and closing itself at night. Everyday, the runners would go inside the Maze, behind the walls, to discover the ground, our environment, and mostly to find a way out. They never really did." says Newt.

"We've runned every meter that existed in this Maze, but we never found a way out. So we waited. Thomas arrived with his curiosity, then Theresa arrived too. She was the first woman ever.".

Newt laughs again. This guy laughs a lot ! "Do you remember how the others freaked out when they saw her ?" he asks to Minho. He grabs his arm and says, between two laughs "Or the time when she threw rocks at us ?". I can't help but smile too. His good mood is contagious.

"Oh god, that was funny ! " he ends up saying, once he controlls his joy " One day, Thomas decided to run away, to get inside the Maze, risk our lives to escape. I followed him, and so did Theresa, Minho, and others." he says with a voice full of grief.

"What happened after that ?" I ask.

"People rescued us. They had a huge, very securised building. They allowed us to have showers, they offered us rooms, bed, food and company. They were fooling us. Every day, they would choose guys or women, and they would take them away. Thomas saw what they did to them, we didn't. But to what I understood, we are some experiences' subjects. They think we are the cure of some desease. So they look for the cure inside us."

"What are you doing here, in the desert ?" I ask, becoming more curious as he speaks.

"We escaped from this place, thanks to Thomas and people we've lost on our way. We ran into the mountains, searching for help. We found it. But Wicked found us, in the mountains with rebells. Many died that day, many of our friends were taken from us. But we fought. We've been hiding in the desert since then, trying to recover. We found you in the Scorch, and here we are. We're thinking about trying to join the mountains again." he says, looking at me.

"Why ?" I ask. "Why the mountains ?"

"You don't fucking need to know why!" says Theresa. She's standing behind me. Her arms are crossed. I don't know what's her problem, but she needs to calm down. I am not a threat. I'm just trying to understand.

"What's wrong with you ?" I ask while raising myself up. Minho and Newt do the same.

"I don't know you. You come out of nowhere, half dead in the desert, you try to escape, steal some of OUR food and OUR weapon. What tells me that you're not here to kill us ?" she asks.

"I think that, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead by now, and I wouldn't have runaway. Or, Wicked would already be here, and you wouldn't be able to breathe." I say too quickly. I breathe and restart "Look, I don't even know who I am. I just know my name. All I know is that my body is seriously hurt, but I have no idea why. I don't know how I ended up in a desert." I say.

"Well I don't fucking care ! I want you out of here !" she yells. What's her problem ?

"Theresa, calm down" says Newt, coming between us. "Do I need to remember you, that you're the one who betrayed us ?" he says half serious, half smiling. Thomas comes out, behind Theresa. He keeps quiet.

"I did this for our safety." she says to justify herself.

"Yeah ? Well look where it lead us !" he says, raising his voice. Theresa looks behind her, searching for Thomas' help. But he doesn't move, he doesn't say a thing. He agrees with Newt. Minho doesn't say a thing neither. Which does not surprise me. He probably lost his tongue while he was running after me.

"You know what I think about this. Our friends died Theresa. I saw their fucking dead bodies laying on the ground !" says Minho. "He actually can speak !" yells my conscience. Theresa's eyes are wide open, she tries to contain her rage. She tightens up her fists.

"Fine I have nothing to do here then !" she says. She descends the stairs and starts running.

"THERESA !" calls Thomas. And he follows her in the warm night.

I don't really remember falling asleep on a couch, but I did. Theresa and Thomas came back at some point. I haven't heard them.

I'm sitting on the sofa now, looking at them packing their stuff. The sun is up.

"Ready ?" asks Newt. I nod and grabb the bag which was at my feet. And we embark in a very long and difficult walk. No one speaks. All we can hear is the silence of nature. The sound of the sand beneath our shoes and the sound of the air trapped in buildings. In this silence, it's way harder to chase my thoughts, to escape my unanswered questions. After a long time of wandering, whether or not, I should ask them, I do. "Why would you go back to the mountains if Wicked almost killed you there ?" I fear Theresa starts yelling at me, puts me on the ground and hits me. But she does not. She keeps walking, silent, probably lost in her own mind.

Newt answers me "You'll know soon enough.". And everyone forgets about everything again. They all fall back into their thoughts. I do too.

Thomas stops. He's the one leading this walk. He starres in front of him, his mouth is open, but he doesn't say a thing. Not a sound comes out.

"What?" asks Theresa, worried.

"Look !" he says smiling and pointing in front of him. We are standing at the top of a dune. I climb a bit more and I see it. There are two mountains, side by side. I percieve trees, flowers, we hear the sound of the wind, of the leaves touching each other, dancing. We see a rabbit, jumping from one bush to another, we see birds flying together, in a V form. We see all of it. This landscape is wonderfull. It almost looks like a painting. For a minute I forget about everything else, my wounds, my sore body, my feet that are about to die. I forget all of it and only admire the view.

"What is over there ?" I ask pointing between the two mountains.

"Rebells" says Theresa. "That's where we're heading" she adds, smiling.

After contemplating it for about 15 minutes, we get started, and walk. We walk through different sort of tracks. Everybody is on his guard. We also walk at night. It's almost been a week we engaged in this march. We never stopped, not even to drink. And I know I should be tired, exhausted, out of breath, I should've stopped a hundred times, but I didn't. I want to know what's over there, what's after those mountains. And as I walk, further and further, deeper in the woods, I feel something coming back at me. I feel my memories getting clearer. Those ginger hair I saw, they're not just hair, they were special to me. They belonged to someone I cared about. I know it, and I almost see her face. I just need more time. But I won't give up. I'll find out, I will. I made this person a promise, I can feel it, inside me.

"Did you hear that ?" asks Theresa. She stops in the middle of the path. Everyone executes the same mouvment. I listen carefully but I don't hear anything.

"What ?" asks Newt.

"I heard something." she says.

"You're hallucinating."

"No I'm not Newt !" she says.

All of a sudden, a roar emerges above our heads. As a reflex, the others run, they hide, inside the woods, behind trees, behind rocks. But I stand there, on my feet, in the middle of the path. I lift my eyes to the sky and discover the gigantic machine. It's made in a shiny dark colour. "WICKED" is engraved in gold letters. The wind the engine provokes, forces me to fold my eyes. I don't see much now. But I can feel the power of this machine. Lost in my contemplation, I don't hear Minho screaming my name a couple of times. But I feel something on my right arm, which makes me come back to reality. I turn my face and discover Minho grabbing me. He forces me to run with him. We don't go very far. We stay hidden, behind a tree trunk, which I admit, isn't very original or usefull.

"What were you thinking ?" he yells while tightening his embrace on my arm. He's hurting me. I wince but he pretends he doesn't notice.

"Did they see you ?" he's still yelling.

"Who ?" I ask, lost.

"Wicked !" he yells harder.

"I don't know !" I answer, trying to remove my arm from his hand. I fail.

Mad, he swears. He grits his teeth. "How could you be so stupid and stay in the middle of the fucking path Vera !" he shouts. I know that was stupid, but I never thought I was in danger, I didn't realize.

"Are you aware of what could've happened ?". He continues, squalling, "They could've released a bomb on you ! And all of us would be burning to death by now !" I wish I could answer him, tell him that it wasn't my intention, that I'm sorry, but I can't. Nothing gets out of my mouth. I've never seen Minho like that. I thought he was the kind of person that controlls himself, that never screams. But seeing him like this, out of his mind, it freaks me out. My body is paralyzed.

Out of the blue, his eyes widen. He shuts up and looks at me. I instantly understand that we're not alone. Someone is there, behind me. He heard their steps or their voices. "RUN" he mimes with his lips. And I do as I'm told. When I see his body extending, taking an escaping expression, I follow him. He runs fast, really fast. I struggle pursuing him and keeping up with his rythm, but I end up getting use to it. We make noises when we step in a tight river. Our feet slam the pebbles, our legs are being whipped by the long wild grass. We run, faster when we hear soldiers behind us screaming "HERE!", "OVER HERE!". I don't have time to think, to wonder if I'm doing the right thing or if I'm following the right persons. My guts tell me to run behind Minho, to follow him. My guts tell me that if I stop, I'll end up dead. So I run.

When the grass is located above my hips, I run still, but I raise my legs higher.

"Have we lost them yet ?" asks Minho, out of breath.

"No" I answer, still running, out of breath too. I can see them far from us, but still here, with their electric blue suits. "We need to run faster" I think. We're good at this, this is our advantage, we need to use it. They are just regular soldiers, they probably don't have this capacity. I try to find the bit of energy I have left inside me, I try to hold on to it. I try to find some goal, and it doesn't take me long to find one. I have to run to stay alive. I hold on to this thought, I grab it somehow. I close my eyes and let the rest of energy I have left come to me. I let the strength invade my body. And somehow I discover another new me. I uncover the strong person that is inside me.

I run faster.

My legs dissapear in the green grass below me, but I feel my muscles, pushing theirselves. I catch the delay I had with Minho. I even exceed him. I'm now leading this run. I see trees trunks everywhere around me. "Look for a way out" screams my mind. "Look for some place to hide".

"COME ON!" I scream, and I see Minho accelerating as well. He's next to me now. We uncork in a large meadow. We both know we're uncovered and vulnerable. So we give up everything we have left, our thoughts, our brains and we run, faster and faster. I couldn't run faster than that. My breath is loud and deep and fast. I know I'll soon give up, I'll fall down.

A bomb explodes behind us. I can feel the heat of its flames on my back. It propulses me and I fall down. I squeeze my eyes and try to regain my senses. I lift myself up, with difficulty. I look for Minho and discover his tall body ahead of me. He stops when he doesn't see me next to him.

"VERA RUN !" he yells when he sees me on the ground. And I do as I'm told. I overtake him again. He follows me and run.

I see a mountain right in front of us. The slope isn't that big, we will be able to climb it easily, in a minute or two. It's risky, but once we'll be on the other side, if we run a little while longer, I know we'll lost them. Moreover, the smoke their bombs provoke is an advantage. It hides our bodies from the soldiers' view.

I turn my face to my right, trying to catch Minho's sight. He looks at me. And just by immersing my eyes in his, I know he's thinking about the same thing. He has seen it. The mountain. We both follow the way to get to it. When we arrive at the foot of the large stone wall, we start climbing it. One hand on a rock, the other in the air, I raise up the weight of my injured body. I feel my wound, almost tearing apart, but I don't pay attention to it. I keep going. I hear the gun shots behind me. The bullets smashes right in the dirt next to my left leg. I hear the detonation. It resonates in me. My body starts shaking, but I arrive at the top of this wall, alive, in one piece. Minho does too. He grabs my hand to raise me up, and he forces me to keep running. We run between trees, again. Rocks beneath our shoes, the road is dry. Minho leads me somewhere that I hadn't notice. Pieces of woods are widespread on meters, forming a nice and discreet hiding place. He pushes me below those trees trunks and joins me. We both throw ourselves on the floor. We stay hidden, in this position, belly against the foam. We hear soldiers' steps, around us. But we don't move, we don't speak. We pray. My eyes closed, I pretend I'm not here, I pretend this is just a dream.

As soldiers' steps become less noisy, I understand that they're leaving. They're running in the wrong direction. They think we're still in front of them, heading deep inside the woods. Once I can't hear their voices anymore, I focus on what's going on around me. The forest is now silent. There's no wind, no birds singing, no water crashing on rocks. Nothing but silence. I feel Minho's body, half over mine. He changes his position, rolling away from me, but still staying below the wood's pieces.

"You alright ?" I ask quietly.

"Yes" he answers, in a heavy breathing.

Relieved, I breathe out, and close my eyes.


	6. Chapter 6 : Hold fast to dreams

Hello there ! So finally I'm posting chapter 6. After this chase from chapter 5 I decided Vera needed to rest for a bit. Therefore this chapter is calming and simple. But still I loved writting it, even though, I must admit I had no inspiration in the beggining, I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. I hope you'll enjoy it as well. For the next one, I'm thinking about something a bit more...interesting and thrilling ! Maybe some romance will show up as well... I don't know. What do you think ? Who do you ship ? Anyway, stay tuned ! xunxknownx

Chapter 6 : Hold fast to dreams.

I close my eyes.

By breathing deeper and slower, I manage to reduce the intensity of my fear. I can feel my heart, inside my chest, burning, pumping blood. It's like it's going to explode. I can't believe what just happened. I could've died.

Neither of us, Minho or I, talk. We stay like this, layed down on the floor for the rest of the night. I think I fall asleep a couple of times. I wake up, once or twice, I blench and find my body coated with sweat. I search for help around me. I look for Minho, afraid that he might leave me here, alone in these woods. But he's always there, underneath those tree trunks. Hands on his belly, head against a rock, eyes closed. He's asleep.

Someone is shaking my shoulders, pulling me off of my nightmares. I blench, as always. "What is it ?" I ask weakly with a sleepy voice.

"We have to go." says Theresa. I widen my eyes and reply "How did you find us ?".

"You always ask questions huh ?" I nod and smile.

She tenders me her hand, I grab it and hoist. "The rebells are waiting for us !" she says smiling. Her kindness surprises me.

One bag in my left hand, I start walking, ignoring my sore legs. I have an awkward feeling. My thighs do hurt me, but my calves suffer way more. It's like someone is stabbing them, starting at my knee, and going down, stopping just above my ankle.

Theresa is behind me, Newt in front of me. We're forming a line. Thomas is leading it, and Minho is just between Thomas and Newt. He didn't say a word since we almost got killed. I don't know if I should be worried or not. Maybe I should at least apologize. I know that he risked his life, just because of my stupidity. It's my fault if he found himself in this dangerous situation.

"Vera ?" asks Theresa behind me. I stop and turn around. "I wanted to apologize" she starts. I open my mouth to say something but she interrupts me "wait, please. I need to just let it out. I know I betrayed them, and I blame myself for it, every day and every night, I really do. But I'm so afraid that they just, leave me behind you know ? I mean I don't deserve their friendship, or their trust actually. Honestly I'm thinking about leaving them once we get to the Rebells' building. I've caused them more harm then anyone else. I don't deserve their help, or anything from them. I'm aware of that. Anyway, what I'm desperatly trying to say, is that I shouldn't have treated you like I did. It was mean, and I'm sorry." Her dark hair move slowly and her blue eyes reflect her sincerity. The fresh sunlight caresses her white dry skin. She looks like a doll. But a doll that has been through a lot. A doll that got lost, but a doll who's definitly trying to find herself.

"I understand" I answer. "I probably would've act the same way, but I would've been less bitchy." I reply.

She laughs.

"You're good at it you know ?" I add guffawing.

"It's one of my many qualities" she answers ironically.

"Apologies accepted.". She smiles, gratefull and maybe relieved. We walk in line for the rest of the day. We stop to eat something, some kind of mashed potatoes, exept I'm not even sure it was made of potatoes. And we walk again, during the cold night. My eyes close themselves sometimes, and it takes me a lot of energy to open them back. But just when the sun starts to rise, Thomas stops. Minho hits him, he wasn't expecting such a halt.

"We're here" he says. I look around me but, I see nothing. I only behold green or purple trees. "I don't see a thing" I say.

Minho looks around him and smiles, he comes right behind me. I can feel his body touching my back. He bends over, his chin almost touches my neck. I can feel his warm breathing just underneath my ear. "That's because you don't know what you're supposed to see." he says. He grabbs my left hand. Without expecting it, my body is browsed by an electric shock. The back of my neck tingles. Moving my hand he shows me.

"There. Between those trees. Can you see it ? The building ?" he asks.

"Yes, Yes I can." I say smiling. In fact I finally notice this white tower, or at least the top of it. It's really well hidden. It's located between trees, mountains and waterfalls.

"We just have to climb a bit more." says Theresa. I see everyone getting started.

"Minho wait !" I say. He turns around and looks at me. His brown hair are in a mess which disturbs me. His skin is slightly tanned, due to his desert walk. His clothes are damaged by age and dirt, just like mine are. "I'm sorry" I briefly say.

"For what ?" he asks, with a calm voice. And in the way he looks at me, I can tell he obviously knows what I'm talking about. He just needs to hear it, from my mouth.

"For putting your life in danger" I say before I add "And thank you for saving mine.".

"It was my pleasure" he replies.

We start walking, following the others.

"But I think you didn't really needed saving." he adds.

"What does that mean ?"

"It means that you could've saved yourself. You can run, and hide, without anyone helping you."

"Everybody can do that."

"Where did you learn to run like that ?" he asks, changing the subject.

"How am I suppose to remember ?"

"Yeah right !"

"What are you going to do ?" I ask and add "Once you have joined the rebells ?"

"I don't know." he says, roughly bringing this conversation to an end. I pretend not to be upset, and I keep walking, as if nothing happened. He has a very awkward personnality. "He's bipolar !" says my mind, and I smile at that thought.

When we arrive at, what I suppose to be, the front door of the rebells' building, I can't help it and I keep my mouth wide open. It's enormous, large, tall, big, no words can describe the imposing establishment. The whole building is white. It doesn't have a regular geometric form, not at all. It's very well designed. It was definitly made to stay hidden. If you're flying above it, you would think it's a normal rock, or the ground. It's not just made in a simple white colour, but it approches to a grey shade. The further I walked, I realised it was not just one building. There are many others. I could count 5 of them. All made in different colours, depending on what was surrounding them.

If there are trees, then the building looks like a trunk, and their top has a green tint. If it's near a waterfall, the top of the building is emerged inside the river, which means that you actually can not see it at all. "How ingenious !" I exclaim. Minho, who was actually looking at me, smiled.

A tall woman appears. On her high purple heels, she moves forward. "We were expecting you." she says with a smooth voice. Once she stands right in front of me, I discover her face, covered with makeup, expensive makeup. Her tan is perfect, her grey eyes are surrounded by a purple eye shadow. Her gaze is highlighted by a thin dark eyeliner line. When she speaks I notice the nude lipstick on her luscious lips.

"How did you know we were coming ?" asks Thomas.

"No time for questions, you need to come in, we're vulnerable outside." she replies and adds "But we will take the time to answer every single one of your questions.". I look at Theresa, remembering that she wanted to leave. She looks back at me. I smile and encourage her to come with us. Strangely, I don't want her to leave. She ends up following the graceful lady inside the building.

When the unknown woman turns around and walk, I percieve her long white silk dress, embracing her perfect skinny body. It touches her feet.

We enter the building, we go down many stairs, made in marble, brown marble. The walls around us are transparent. The path is in form of tubes. We can see the underground. First off, there is dirt, rocks and earth-worms. After a long walk, we climb in an elevator, we go up. Two floors higher, we're underneath water. Once we're outside the elevator, we can see the impact of a waterfall, from beneath.

"Wonderfull isn't it ?" asks the woman. I hadn't realise I actually stopped to look at it. Everyone is waiting for me. I come back to my senses and whisper a simple "yes" before I join them in a corridor. Walls are now painted in a light green colour, the floor is made in dark wood.

"Now ! I'm gonna distribute you your rooms. Inside you will have everything you need, meaning food, water, bed, etc. I invite you to have a shower and dress up for tonight's diner. You will meet our leaders, and everyone else. There, all your questions will be answered." We all nod.

We walk down the corridor, Newt gets the first room. Then Thomas, Theresa and Minho. I'm the last one, standing next to this gorgeous model, I watch her introducing the key inside the door lock. But before she opens it, she looks at me. Her grey eyes inside mine.

"Someone will come and join you before diner. He won't harm you, he just wants to talk to you.". I nod.

I enter the luxurious room. The door closes itself once I am in. A large white bed faces me. Behind it, through a window, I see the forest. I search for the door leading me to a bathroom. I find it and have a shower. Feeling water on my skin, cleaning it, makes me feel safer and happier. All the dry blood which was around my wound dissapears. All of the dirt as well. I wash myself three times before I can really feel clean.

 _Dear diary, Rebells' building. That's where I found it, my new journal, this diary. I wrote back, as I remembered the first page of the rose gold journal I had back on earth. I didn't really know what to write at first, but I finally understood that writting was some kind of therapy to me. It made me feel safer, it made me put down everything that I was thinking about on paper, it made me realise that I wasn't crazy, that what I was going through was real. And mostly it made me forget about the voices I kept hearing inside my head. Do I sound crazy ? Yeah for sure !_

 _See, I never understood the whole point of this, of my life, of the Maze, of our fight. I never really found a realistic reason, a true and logic purpose. I've never been able to explain it. It was just something that I could feel inside me. Something that I knew, somehow, was right. It's like that day, when I escaped the house I was in, when Thomas' band rescued me. I ran off, but I came back, and I followed them. I trusted them, without even remembering anything. I did this because I knew deep down inside me that this is what I was supposed to do, this is what I wanted, even though there was a risk._

 _Truth is, everything in this world is risky. When you get outside, you're exposed to a risk. Before more than ever. Now, a bit less, but still._

 _Sorry, I think I'm skipping quite a few details. It must be a little bit fuzzy for you._

 _Where was I ?_

 _Right, the day I arrived in the rebells establishment. I don't remember a lot from that first night. But I do have a couple memories that are interesting and necessary. Let me tell you about it._

I wrap myself in a large white towell and get out of the bathroom. I jump, surprised, when I see a man, sitting on my bed. He stands up when he sees me. I haven't heard the door opening.

His skin is tanned, naturally brown. His hair are frizzy, assembled in a ponytail. His brown eyes are underlined by a pink line of eye shadow. His cheeks are hollowed, his lips are pulpy. When he politely smiles, I percieve dimples in each corner of his mouth. He does have a lot of charm. Around his neck is attached an interesting clothing piece. It looks like a gold dress. It stops just underneath his knees. Below it, he's wearing a black pant, and a black top. When he moves forward to shake my hand, the dress moves with his body. I notice that it's opened on the side.

"Nice to meet you." I mumble, impressed by this man's charisma.

"The pleasure is mine." he replies, sitting back on the bed. I look around, confused by this situation.

"Oh yeah right, sorry ! I'm Aegeus, and you are Vera. Aegeus means protector in my birth language, so as it says, I will be your protector." he smiles again. "But for tonight, I will be your designer, your adviser and your guide." he adds.

"My designer ?" I ask. He nods. "Turn around" he says. And I do as I'm told, without even asking any questions. And, on a fake model, I see a gorgeous dress.

"Try it on" he says, and I do.

Behind the door, I hear Aegeus talking, "I know Vera means faith in Russian so I kinda wanted to represent that in the dress you're gonna wear for tonight's diner. And as it is your first night, you need to make a good impression. People need to notice you. You have to stand out. What I want, is that when you come in the dining room, everybody turns around. I want everyone to be shocked, to applaude, to be amazed by your natural beauty. I mean, everybody already knows you, but they need to see the real you, you understand ?" he asks, speaking very quickly.

"Not at all." I reply laughing. "Wait !" I say, remembering a part of his speech, "Everybody knows me ?" I ask.

"That's part of what you're about to learn tonight." he replies.

"Tell me" I ask, getting out of the room, not done yet. But he widen his eyes, surprised, and proud of his own work. "Pieces are missing" he says, raising up and touching the dress to replace it.

"I know, but I want you to answer me first" I say.

"Sit down" he orders me.

I do. And strangely, I find out that the dress isn't uncomfortable at all. It moves with my body. I can breathe deeply and calmly. Nothing strangles me. The silk is really soft.

Moving his hands in the air, and his face from left to right, he speaks "Look child, it's not my job to tell you all about it. It's Alarick's. He will explain you everything that you need to know during diner. What you must know for now, is that you are safe here, inside our establishment. All of the people inside it, have already lost friends, family, or their own memory. We have had to fight, we have had to give everything, to make this become possible. Ava Paige doesn't even know about us, about the building. She thinks that we all died. But here we are, hiding and becoming stronger each day. It takes time, but we need time to recrute people like you, to recrute leaders. Alarick is one of them, Thomas is, Theresa is, Minho is, Newt is, and you are. We need you. Your strength, your abilities but mostly your memory."

And instantly I reply "I don't remember anything."

"You will" he replies.

"How ?"

"Years ago, after we just ended to build this building, we created a scientific center. My boyfriend use to work in it. Yes I'm gay, please don't judge !"

"I won't !"

"Fine. What was I saying ?"

"The scientific building"

"Yes right! The scientist were searching for a cure. A cause to what took us our memory and most importantly how we could take it back. They searched for so long ! But they had hope, a lot of hope. And they ended up finding it." he says, while he passes a spray on my skin. My injuries close theirselves, becoming small white scars. He grabs the next piece of the dress and put it on me, still talking.

"They made it look like a medecine. You take it once, you go through a hard time but you find back your memory. The hard time can be long or short, it depends on people's experiences, and what they've been going through. You can decide not to remember of course."

"How do you get that medicine ?" I ask.

"Alarick will propose it to you at the diner. You can accept it or refuse it."

"What will happen, once I'll remember everything ?" I ask.

"You will be free to share, or not to share your memories."

"I hesitate" I release.

"It's current and understandable. Truly. But the decision is yours, no one can influence it, not even me." he says.

He moves around me, from left to right, he passes one hand on my back, then on my neck, fixing things. He cuts off some pieces of the dress.

"Done !" he finally exclaims clapping in his hands.

I turn around and look in the mirror. He has a gift. This dress is perfect, it really does suit me.

"Aegeus ! This is beautiful." I say. His smile couldn't be more sincere and beautiful, neither could be mine. I truly am impressed. I'm not even wearing any makeup. My brown hair are naturally falling on my shoulders. My white skin looks almost perfect now. We barely can see my scars. But the dress, it's just breathless. I pass one hand on it, near my thigh. The bottom is long, it's resting on the floor, behind my feet. A dark piece is slightly opening on the front, revealing a part of my calves and the dark and shining heels that I'm wearing. Above my hips, the dress is tight, with long sleeves and with a turtle neck. It's simple, dark and classic. It's not extravagant at all. And I love it. It makes my green eyes stand out.

"Do you want to see something amazing ?" asks Aegeus.

"Yes."

He turns off the light. I realise then, that the night is up, such as the moon is. And in the mirror I still see the reflection of the dress. But it ain't dark anymore. It's shining in a fluorescent green colour. I bring both of my hands to my mouth, and while I smile, I scream, hopping on my heels, impressed and shocked by such an idea.

"I love it Aegeus !" I say laughing. He laughs too.

When I enter the dining room, people's reaction are exactly like Aegeus planned. The room is emerged in darkness at first, so the only thing they notice is the fluorescent dress. But once the mini movie they showed is done, lights turn on, and I see them. Their faces are turning around. They're all starring at me, or at my dress in fact. It makes me feel very uncomfortable. I don't know what to say or how to act.

Without knowing why, I search for Minho in the crowd. Once I find him, I don't quit his sight. I walk toward him, toward Thomas, Theresa and Newt as well. I join the only people I know. Aegeus abandonned me to join his friends. The further I walk, the harder it becomes to breathe. Knowing that everyone is talking about you is stressful. A woman smiles at me, when I walk next to her, I smile back, politely.

When Minho turns around and sees me, I notice his facial expression changing. I've never seen it before. I don't know what to think about it. His eyes unbend, just like his face in general. His brown eyes don't quit me. His hair are still in a mess. He's wearing a dar suit that bring out his muscles.

"You" he stops and starts over "You look magnificent" he hardly pronounces once I'm in front of him.

"So do you" I reply smiling.


	7. Chapter 7 : Just remember

_Hi there ! Here is chapter 7 ! I had a lot of fun writting it, so I hope you'll enjoy reading it. Should we have a nickname for the lovers inside this story ? What should we call Theresa and Thomas couple ? Oh and what about Minho and Vera ? Anyway, let me know in the comments what you thought about this and, yeah, enjoy it ! Have a nice time. xunxknownx_

 **Chapter seven :**

 **Just remember.**

We sat down on the lovely white chairs. The table was embellished with small blue flowers. We started eating our diner, in silence. None of us dared talking. People around us were whispering and laughing. Some of them where looking at us, intrigued. We couldn't hear what they were saying.

I caught Theresa, questioning me with her eyes. I didn't really understand why.

Now, a man has raised himself from his seat. He walks towards what looks like a scene, he climbs three stairs and turns around. He faces us. He's wearing a black suit. His blond hair are braided on the side.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen" he begins. "Most of you know how this diner time goes. You know what you're about to see. But most of you here, don't know anything at all, yet. You're new to our establishments, you just arrived from the outside. So let me explain you, the few things that you need to know." he says with an accent that I can't recognize.

"Years ago, a man was walking in these mountains, he was lost, hungry and thirsty. He had a wound on his left knee. He knew he wouldn't go very far. So he layed himself down, on the cold ground, covered in snow, and he waited. He knew it wouldn't be long before Wicked's army comes and shoots him. But surprisely he waited, days and days. No one ever came. He started wondering "why?" or "How was that possible ?". One day, he had the idea to build shelter, to hunt, etc. He did, still not caring about his life, and still with the idea that Wicked might appear at any moment and murder him. Wicked never came. At all.

A year after that, he decided to go back in the mountains, outside the establishment he had build. He discovered rebells, he fought with them, and he offered them shelter, here, far from Wicked. The longer he waited, the more men came here, in his refuge. So they built more establishments, more rooms, they designed fields, ..etc. They saw this opportunity as a second chance. No matter what you had been through, no matter if you were strong or smart, you belonged here, safe with us, away from Wicked."

He stops shortly and lets the crowd applaude. Neither Thomas, Theresa, Newt, Minho or I do. We just look at him. I know what Thomas is thinking. What proves us that this ain't another Wicked's trap ?

"I never really know how to say this." he continues.

"Mh...Well, let's just go for it. You're part of a serie, a sort of game." he releases.

Thomas raises from his seat. His eyes are wide open, his mouth is as well. His face is tensed, marked by fear and misunderstanding. People whisper around us, they starre at Thomas. I simply hold my breath and squeeze the side of my chair.

"A game ?" asks Thomas from the corner of the room.

"Sit down Thomas. Let me explain everything." replies Alarick. And surprisely he obeys and sit back on his chair.

"When we finally created a pill, so that everyone could have access to their memories, we understood that the planet we were leaving in, wasn't really ours. Ava Paige doesn't live here. She lives on earth, with our families, our parents, sisters, brothers, aunts etc. There are two different planets. There's Earth, and there's Mars. We're leaving on Mars. Ava Paige is living on Earth. She's controlling us, controlling our environment, our lives, everything. She controlls our planet, she designed it with a scientific crew. She decides who lives and who dies, here inside the Maze. So let me explain it with details."

People don't whisper anymore, they speak with each other. I look at Minho who is sitting on the chair next to me. He doesn't say anything. He stays quiet. If I didn't know him, I'll think that this means he doesn't care. But in the contrary. This reaction means that he's not alright. Something is bothering him. Something is making him afraid. But what ? When our eyes meet, I frown. But he doesn't say anything, he avoids eye contact.

"Quiet !" yells Alarick.

"You and I were born on earth" he starts. "Some of you are here because you had ideas and goals that you couldn't have over there. You had a perception of life that they didn't like. You challenged the government, your leaders. You didn't agree with something. So they took you away and locked you in an establishment. Over there you had a correction. If it wasn't enough, they'd send you here, in the Maze, with us. This is the first possible story. The second one is the following." No one speaks anymore. Everyone just tries to remember which one of the story suits him the most.

"Your parents were both inside the correction establishment. They fell in love, and... well you know how it goes. Wicked calls you a Maze child. You were born in conditions that weren't proper, you are not official, no one has to know about you. You're a shame. Therefore they threw you into the Maze, when you were in age. Meaning around 5 to 6 years old." he stops and looks around, starring at our reactions.

"Today, a new episode is going to appear on earth, about us, about the game we're suppose to play. We have hacked their system so we will also be able to see it. Feel free to leave the room if you want . Feel free to stay if you want as well. This is your decision. You will find the pill that will give you back your memories next to your bed, in your rooms. Take it or not, your decision again. We're not here to force you, to influence you. You are free to leave this establishment whenever you want, you are free to do whatever you want, as long as you aren't a problem for us, and as long as you respect our safety. Have a good night, ladies and gentlemen, and I thank you for your attention."

I know how I should feel after such a revelation. But I don't feel confused, I'm not frightened. Deep down inside me, I knew it. I just needed the confirmation. I already knew what he just said. It's no surprise at all.

"Are you alright child ?" asks Aegeus. I didn't even notice him. He came and sat next to me. I nod. He puts his hand on my right arm.

"You will be." he adds. And I nod, again.

There is something wrong though. Something doesn't feel good. I feel it inside me. I turn my face on my left side and look around. Minho isn't here anymore. I search for him in the room. I percieve him, going out. He passes the front door. I raise myself up and follow him. When I'm out of the dining room, I finally feel released from all of these people starring at my dress.

"Minho ?" I ask. Once, and twice but no one answer. I know he's here, I've seen him. I didn't dream ! I search in every corner of the corridor, but I only notice darkness and emptiness.

Suddenly, someone grabs me by my shoulders and presses me against a wall. The impact makes me moan. One arm beneath my chin, pressing my throat. I have difficulty in breathing. I try, with both of my hands, to detach myself from this person's squeeze, but I fail. He's too strong.

"Vera ?" asks a man voice that sounds familiar. "Fuck ! Sorry" he adds. "I thought it was someone else".

He releases me. I bring both of my hands around my neck and knead it. I cough twice and finally breathe deeply.

"We're safe here Minho ! Haven't you heard Alarick ?" I say.

"How do you know his name ?"

"Aegeus told me. Why did you leave the room ?"

"Who the fuck is Aegeus ?" he yells.

"Calm down !" I say. "What's wrong with you ?"

"Nothing" he mumbles.

"Minho, tell me." I insist.

"It's just" he starts but stops. I encourage him, not leaving him of my sight. "A fucking game ?" he adds.

"What are we Vera ? Pawns ? They were fooling us the whole time. At first they told us that we were some kind of cure to a desease. Somehow people were coming back to life, but changed in zombies. But we weren't, we were special, we had something that made us humans. They told us we were subjects, experiments. And now what ? That's not true, this is just the story they tell for a stupid serie ?

And when we fucking thought it was finally over, when we thought we had it all figured it out, just when we thought we were safe, we weren't. We were just exactly where they wanted us to be ? Then this just means that we're fucking idiots !" he releases, mad. His cheeks are turning red, slightly. He squeezes his hands, forming fists.

"How could you have known Minho ?"

"I don't know ! But why do they do this to us ? What's wrong with us ? They killed my friends Vera ! Do you know that ? I stood there, watching them die. I saw them, getting shot, getting eaten alive by some monsters Wicked created !" he screams, and I'm pretty sure that everyone in the dining room can hear us perfectly. But I don't mind. He needs to talk about it, he needs to let it out, I feel it. He has been keeping all of this inside him, for too long.

"Yes, I know" I reply with a tiny voice. I know, but I don't know what it's like to loose someone you care about. I can only imagine the way he feels. But it won't be enough, it won't even be close to the real feeling, the real pain. When this thought goes through my mind, something hits me. Like a memory, an old feeling. I actually do know what it's like. I know the fear you get when you want to protect this person you care about. And the pain, or the anger you feel when you're incapable of moving, of doing something. When you're incapable of saving them. It takes everything in you, all of your energy, all of your love. You would give everything to help them, you would give them your life because they deserve it. They deserve to live. No matter if it's a friend, a lover or a family member, you love them with all your body and soul. They know you, you know them, you have some sort of bound that you can not even explain.

"Why aren't you mad ?" he asks, removing me from my thoughts.

"I don't know" I reply, asking myself the exact same question. "I guess I already knew that somehow. And I haven't been here long enough to live much things, or to loose anyone." I add.

He looks around him, his hands aren't squeezed anymore. His tension is lower.

"It's to good to be true." he says.

"I know, I feel the same way. The food, the shelter, all of that, it's almost perfect. But at the same time, I keep wondering why couldn't it be true ?" I reply.

He looks at me. His eyes inside mine. This situation is uncomfortable and it makes me anxious. His silence doesn't help. Confused, I add "What if it's just another level of the game ?".

"But what if we're finally safe ?" he replies instantly.

"So you believe it's true ?"

"It makes sense Vera.". And I know he's right. It does explain a lot of things. But still, which kind of human could do this to another person ? Who would make people kill each other, make them fight, survive just to entertain ? What's the point ?

"Are you going to take the pill ?" I ask.

"No" he replies roughly.

"Why not ?"

"What for ? So that I can remember the faces of the basterds who sent me in the Maze ?". He's getting mad again. Great congratulations Vera ! Smart move.

Raising his voice, putting his hands in the air, walking backward and forward, he exclaims "I'm done with all of this. Do you have any idea how it feels ? To wake up everyday, feeling like you're fake, feeling like you mess up no matter what you do ? Do you know what it's like ? When you turn around and search for your best friend's face, but you don't find it anywhere ? And then you remember that he just died. You don't know how it feels ! You don't know how much it hurts. No one fucking understands !"

"Minho !" yells Thomas behind me.

"What ?" he screams back.

"Calm down !" he replies.

"How are you guys being so cool about this ? Do I need to remember you the names of our friends who died suffering for a FUCKING GAME ?"

"MINHO ! Shut the fuck up ! Everyone, in the whole damn building, can hear you !" replies Thomas.

"Do you think I care ?" he asks, throwing his hands in the air.

"We're safe here okay ? Don't screw this up. If this is the truth, we'll figure it out soon enough. But there's no need to turn over the past. They're gone, forever. Now let them rest in peace. We need to stay together. We need to find a way out. It's not by yelling and hating each other that we'll succeed."

"How can you say that ? You want me to let them rest in peace ? What peace is there in dying in such horrible conditions Thomas ? You were there ? You saw what I saw. " he replies, tears in his eyes.

Thomas grabs Minho's arms, and forces him to look at him. I turn around and leave the room, realising that I'm too much in this conversation. The last words that I hear are "I miss Chuck, I miss everyone. But for them I fight, and I keep going. No matter what Wicked throws at us, we'll win this war Minho. Do you hear me ? We will win, because we are strong and united."

When I regain the room, I'm surprised to see everyone talking, laughing, eating and drinking. This room aspires me tranquility and it sounds familiar. All this good mood, this happiness. It's awkward but at the same time, it's comforting. I walk back toward my table. I sit next to Theresa who's eating a chocolate cake. Well, in fact she's devouring it. I laugh at that vision of her.

"Is everyone alright ?" she asks between two bites.

"Yeah, don't worry." I reply and add "oh and Theresa ? I'm glad you didn't leave us." She smiles back at me.

"I wanted to." she replies.

"Why didn't you ?".

"Because, you are my friends." she starts and continues, hesitating, with a sad smile on her face "you're my family as well. The only one that I have left."

"Theresa" I start, but she interrupts me. "It's fine."

"And...you know ? I thought, that maybe Thomas would forgive me, one day. Maybe he would probably understand what I did, and why I thought I was doing the right thing."

"He already forgave you Theresa." I reply.

A sweet melody interrupts our conversation. Minho and Thomas are gently sitting back on their chair. They stay quiet.

"Welcome to the most watched and known serie, The Maze." says a woman voice. Everyone stops their activity, and look at the screen.

"Previously on the Maze." it adds, and pictures of faces, mine included, pass on the large screen. In this episode of the Maze, we see people fighting, a man and a woman kissing, a child running. We see a band, finally getting out of the Maze Runner, joining the Scorch Trials. When it ends, we all join our rooms, in silence. This serie isn't entertaining, it's frightening. It reminds people what they've been through, the things they've seen, lived or even the people they've left behind.

Once I'm in my room, I take off the masterpiece that is my dress and put it on a chair. I put on a comfortable pajama instead and slip under my bed comforter. My head rests on two pillows. I ignore the pill, resting on my bed side table. I open a book and read three pages, I think. I fall asleep, without noticing it.

The rest of the week goes the same way. I wake up, frightened, not knowing where I am. I'm sweating and searching for help. My dreams turn into dark and awfull nightmares.

Then, I dress up, Aegeus helps me, he guides me, makes me visit the entire establishment. I personally met Alarick. He talked to me, for a while, but didn't say anything important. He gave me a job in the infirmary. I help people, heal them, and have some classes about plants the afternoon. And I must admit that I learn boring things ! I only see Theresa four days later, at diner, I learn that she, and Thomas has taken the pill. They found back all their memories. They had a hard time trying to deal with who they were, what they did, or even what they saw. But they ended up dealing with it. It made them realise that they loved each other.

To what I remember they grew up together, in the correction center. Newt and Minho didn't take the medicine though. I caught them once, getting outside of the establishment, armed. They were with other soldiers. When I asked a woman, she told me they were going on a mission, in the mountains. I never really had the occasion to talk to them. I had to stay with the other nurses during dinner time. And well, they were staying with the other soldiers. I must admit I miss it. Seeing them.

I have blood on my hands, and on my outfit. I get outside the operation room. I search for a woman, dressed in a pink dress. She widens her eyes when she sees the red colour, spread all over me. Afraid of what I'm about to tell her, she grabs her bag and holds on to it.

"Everything went well, you'll be able to see him in a couple hours." I tell her. She jumps in my arms, releasing her tension. Her ginger hair reminds me of someone I use to know. The short memory I have brings me a warm feeling. I stay like this, looking at her, for a minute or two, lost in my thoughts.

Once my working hours are done, I clean my hands in a river, take off my clothes and decide to wear something comfortable. I put on a blue jean and a black shirt.

I join Theresa in the park, below the waterfall. Everytime I walk next to this place, I'm surprised by its beauty. I discern black hair, not very far from me. When those hair turn around, I discover Theresa's white skin and blue eyes. She's also wearing a pant and a simple t-shirt. She smiles politely when she sees me.

We talk for a hour, about the weather, our jobs, the previous episode of the Maze, the kids running around in front of us,...

"I miss it you know ?" says Theresa.

"What ?" I ask.

"Being outside, running towards the unknown, faster and faster. Escaping, having this thrill inside my veins. Not knowing if I'm messing up or if I'm going to die. I know I shouldn't say this, but doing this boring job, behind a screen, all day, it's killing me. I need to move, I need to do something useful."

"Me too." I release. And it is true. "Do you know what kills me the most ?" I ask.

"Tell me.".

"Knowing, that there are people out there who are getting murdered. Knowing that some of them are escaping a Maze, thinking that they're finally safe, when they're not.". She nods, which means that she shares my opinion.

We stop talking, and when the alarm rings, we join the dining room. As always, when I enter this room, I search for Minho's sight, and I catch him, already looking at me. This eye contact lasts for five seconds, and then we pretend we do not know each other. 'The same old routine' I think.

This feeling I get, when we're in the same room is so...weird. I can't even describe it. I don't want to admit it, but when I have my nightmares, when I know I'm about to let myself get killed, I see his eyes, and I end up wanting to live, so I fight back.

I chase those thoughts out of my mind and join my seat. I eat with my collegues, and I stay quiet, as always. Then, comes the time of The Maze's new episode. Everyone stops talking, people get out of the room. And the same familiar woman voice talks. "Previously on The Maze". We listen and watch every single moment, every images of this episode.

My heart stops beating when the camera shows the face of a little girl. She's crying. Her body is feld up. She's swinging from left to right, trying to calm herself down. Her tiny hands on her ears, she tries to escape the environment around her. She's afraid there's no doubt. Her brown suit is ripped, damaged and dirty. Her white skin is covered in mud, mixed with blood. Her blue eyes are searching for help. Her pink lips are pronouncing a word, but no sound is coming out of her mouth. She's saying something. The camera insists on her lips. And I'm starring at it, trying to understand what she's saying. But the people around me, seem to understand what she's saying, before I do. They all turn around and starre at me.

Finally, I get it, her lips form the word "Vera". She pronounced my name. Who is she ? Do I know this poor little kid ? I search in my memories, I force myself to feel something, to see something. But all I find is emptiness.

When the camera shows off her ginger hair, everything comes back to me in flashes. My hands and my bottom lip start shaking, tears appear in my eyes. I have trouble controlling my breath. "Aya !" I whisper.

She was there, in the establishment, for our formation. She was in my arms when Ava Paige made her speech. When this man shot himself in the middle of the crowd. The vision of his blood on the floor, of his skin damaged, makes me want to throw up. I remember Aya's brown suit, her brown boots. I remember her, laying on the bed, scared that I won't remember her. I dropped her at her class, that afternoon. She waved back at me with her tiny hand. I remember her shy smile, her red cheeks when she was talking about that boy she had a crush on. I remember that moment when I was attached on a bed, trying to defend myself, screaming her name. I remember someone punching me, yelling, telling me to shut up. But all I could think about, was Aya. I wanted to protect her, I had to protect her. I promised her that I would. But I didn't. Now she's out there, on her own, calling for me.

Tears rolling down my cheeks. I raise from my chair and run outside. Once I'm in that familiar park, I walk. Then I sit. I cry, and I want to yell, but I can't. So many feelings are inside me. I don't have the time to feel everything, I need to find her. I promised her I would. Lost inside my anger and my confusion, I breathe to find back my senses. Because of Aya, I remember everything. I remember that man who hit me, just because I wasn't able to shoot a target. I remember his words. I remember the face of Ava Paige. I recall her body resting on a sofa. I remember my mom, scared and destroyed by my decision. All of it comes back to me. All of my past.

'Focus on Aya' screams my mind. 'You have to save her'. What if they hurt her ? What if she was in danger ? I jump on my feet and run back to the dining room. The screen turns dark. The episode is over. People are slowly getting out of the dining room. When they see me come in, they stop moving. I'm out of breath, I feel my blood, ruching inside my veins, the adrenaline going down in every one of my muscles. I walk toward Alarick, everyone let me pass.

"Where is she ?" I ask.

"Look, Vera" he starts.

"Tell me where the fuck she is. NOW !" I yell interrupting him. I do not have any patience, so he better be careful.

"I don't know. But Wicked is controlling her. It's not safe." he adds.

I laugh sarcasticly. "Look, Alarick, you don't want to make me reiterate the same fucking question twice ! So you're going to move your lazy ASS and FIND her. You'll tell me where she is and I'll go get her. It's as simple as that. And, I DON'T WANNA hear your BULLSHIT about the fucking danger !"

He looks at me surprised by my nerve. My facial expression is threatening.

"Follow me" he says. And I do. I don't notice Theresa, Newt, Thomas and Minho, until I enter Alarick's office. They are behind me, with other people that I do not know and that I've never seen before. Alarick taps on machines, screens lighten up and voices talk.

"Who is she ?" he asks, still tapping on a transparent screen.

"Aya." I answer, holding a sob when I pronounce her name. All of the memories I had with her come back to me. Her laugh, the way she used to open her eyes when I'd shock her with my words, the way she walked when she was tired, the way she used to squeeze my arm, the way she'd hold both of her arms in front of her so that I'd grab her. All of it. I only spent a short amount of time with her. And still, I got attached to her, more than anything else before. She's like my sister.

"She's still in the level number 1, the Maze. Her group hasn't find the way out yet. And I don't think they intend to find it."

"Why ?"

"Vera...she was send in a different group. In this group, they use woman to make sure the human race doesn't die. Or to help men relax. They become a sexual object when they're in age. They don't really care about getting out, because they have everything they need."

My eyes widen. "She's just a girl Alarick ! She is not a sexual object !" I scream.

"Vera, I'm sorry but we can't do this, we can't risk rescuing her. No one has ever entered a Maze. If we have left the Maze Runner, it's for a good reason." he says.

My sight is lost in nothingness. "Send me there." I end up saying after a long silence.

"Vera look" he starts but I don't give up and repeat : "I said, send me there Alarick. It wasn't a question."

"Vera it's dangerous" says Minho behind me, putting his hand on my left arm.

"Yeah ? Well think how dangerous this is for a 6 year old girl." I reply, shaking my arm to escape his contact.

"We can't save everyone." he says with a low voice.

"Coming from you Minho, this is pretty ironic ! What if I told you the same thing for the friends you lost ?" His eyes turn black, I know I've hit his weakness. It's unfair, and I blame myself for it. But I can't leave her. I made her a promise, I have to keep it. She was asking for me earlier. Everybody saw this. I can't just leave her there, and let her die. I would do whatever it takes to save her.

I turn back to Alarick. "I have no use here. I wasn't born to be a nurse. I want you to send me there." I repeat.

"I'll go with you" adds Theresa. If I wasn't feeling so angry I'd be surprised by her commitment.

"I give you one week to think about it" replies Alarick, looking at both of us.

"One week ? Are you mad ? No !" says Theresa.

"One day and that's it. I won't come back on my decision Alarick. The sooner I'll be there, the better." I reply.

"We don't even know how to send you in the Maze Runner."

"I do" reply a scientific who's resting on a chair. His blond hair in a mess, he's biting his bottom lip.

"Fine, you have one day, to plan everything. But if something goes wrong, I won't come to save your asses" says Alarick.

"Good." I reply. I turn around and leave the room, ignoring Minho's accusing gaze. But mostly ignoring the fact that his facial expression breaks my heart in a million pieces.


	8. Chapter 8 : A blurred mind

_Hello beautiful readers ! I'm uploading quite fast these days because I'm writting a lot ! I have a lot of inspiration. Plus, I've changed the cover ! What do you think about it ? Now, I'll let you read the following chapter. I hope you like it. I'll wait for your opinion in the comments. xunxknownx_

 **Chapter 8 :**

 **A blurred mind.**

When I enter my room, I'm pissed and angry. I feel like the whole world is against me. Everything is falling apart, nothing makes sense. All of it, is just too stupid, and unreal. I keep wondering 'why ?', 'why me ?' 'why now ?'. I want to punch something. I shout, vainly, trying to erase this feeling, to erase this lump in my throat. Once I've yelled many times, I fall down on my butt, my back is resting against my bed, and I cry. Warm tears fall down on my burning red cheeks. The voices inside my head scream so loud, I don't hear Minho and Newt entering my room.

"Does she worth the risk ?" asks Minho. I'm surprised to hear his voice. When I manage to speak I answer : "she does.".

I hear him, loudly expirating. "You know it's dangerous right ?" he asks again. I nod. "Especially for a woman like you." he adds.

"Minho if your trying to persue me not to go, you won't. It's too late, I made up my mind. Don't you get that she's like my sister ? She's family. I care about her and I won't leave her alone." I reply.

I turn my face to my right, avoiding his sight. The forest, that I see through my windows, is plunged in darkness. I look at it, at the leaves, at the ground. The woods are dark and scary. But everything is calm and pure. There's a harmony in the air. I breathe in. My tears stop falling down.

"I'll come with you" says Newt, one hand in his pant's back pocket, and the other on the wall.

"What ? Why ?" I ask.

"Because you're part of it now, you're part of us, the band. And we always support one another. We'll go there together, and get Aya, together. We'll bring her back, here, safe with us."

"I'm coming too" says Minho, but something in his voice makes me believe that he feels constrained. Thomas enters the room, holding Theresa's hand.

"We are all coming." he says.

"You are all willing to risk your lives for someone you barely know ?" I ask surprised. They all sit, on the floor or on my bed. They cross their legs and arms. They look into each others eyes and nod.

"I know you" says Theresa before she adds "and you know me. You asked me to stay, and I did. I'm here because of you, and I like you."

Newt interrupts her "It doesn't matter if we don't know each other that much, what matters is now. What will happen next and most importantly what we will do about it." he says smiling. His smile is comforting and I'm surprised by his maturity. He can be serious and he can speak true words when he wants. I like that about him.

Minho raises and, putting his hands behind his neck, he says : "I'll see you tomorrow morning. There's someone I need to see."

"Who ?" asks Theresa. And I quietly thank her, because I'm curious and worried at the same time, about who this person is. He has been acting so weird recently. Have I done something wrong ?

"Someone." he briefly answers. Thomas laughs, so does Newt and I starre at my feet, pretending I'm lost inside my thoughts. Well, to be true I am. Am I jealous ? I wonder. But surprisely I'm not. Well...okay yes, I am. I'm scared and I feel stupid.

"A possible new love story ?" asks Newt smiling again, but showing his teeth this time. Minho shyly smiles and nods his head. He gets out of the room.

'WHAT THE FUCK ?' screams my mind. 'No, no Vera DO NOT think about this now, focus on Aya.' I repeat to myself, trying to convince me. But I hardly do.

I thought...I don't even know what I was thinking actually. Because he saved me from a Wicked's attack, because he was getting closer to me, because of the way he starred at me...what was I thinking ? That something will happen between us ? 'DAMN you can be an idiot sometimes Vera Danckin.'

The squad stays in my room for a hour or two, I don't pay any attention to them. When they finally decide to leave, I directly plunge my body inside my bed, between my comfortable and clean, sheets. I close my eyes. It doesn't take me long before I fall into a deep, but tormented, sleep.

 _"What's this ?" asks a tiny voice. I turn my face to the left and put both of my hands inside a bush. I gently put the leaves on the side. And between them, I see her. Aya is smiling. The corner of her lips are almost touching her ears. Her eyes are filled with joy, they're shining, as bright as the stars do on a dark night. Her cheeks are turning red with the sun. On her nose, there's a little smudge. When she brings both of her hands to her mouth to hold a chortle, I notice they are full of dirt, purple dirt. I smile, because I guess she has been eating the fruit I asked her to pick up. She starts running when I extend my arms to grab her. Her ginger hair move gently with her body. The wind blows, making her dress go up and down, caressing her white legs. This image is beautiful. 'I miss her' I think._

 _She stops a little further, and lays on the grass. I then look at the clear blue sky. The sun is shining so bright between those green leaves. The lightening blinds me, but it's a good sensation. Aya's body dissapears between the high grass. I walk forward, and once I'm above her, I smile. Her eyes are closed. "Look behind you Vera !" she says, calmly. I do so, and turn around. But the environment changes. The grass ain't green anymore, it's brown. The ground is made of mud. I see rocks and some are covered in snow. I squeeze my arms together to warm myself up, but I fail. The trees become walls, damaged walls. The sky is dark, it starts snowing. I walk between buildings, not knowing where I am or where I am going. I put my right hand on the corner of a door, I bring my ears closer to it, and I percieve noises. Human voices. I open it, curious. But when I gently push it, it falls down on the floor, creating a deep scary sound that makes me jump. Thunder exploses at that same moment._

 _'It's not real' I whisper. Closing my eyes and opening them back up. Nothing happens, nothing changes. I'm still here in the middle of nowhere._

 _I choose to look behind that door. And I recognize someone. First, all I can see is a man's back. But when I come closer I realise he's not alone, I turn, on these people's left side. They don't seem to notice me at all. A woman is laying on a table, her brown hair are in a mess, she shouts, but she ain't afraid, no one is hurting her. The guy's hand caresses her boobs, she bites her fingers, trying to hold another scream of pleasure. I look closer, not understanding what's going on. Her clothes are ripped. When the guy raises his face up, I recognize him, it's Minho. His eyes are closed and his mouth is tensed. 'Oh no !' I whisper. My throat contracts itself, my belly tightens. I feel betrayed._

 _"Do you want to join us ?" asks the woman, going up and down on Minho's waist. I widen my eyes, disgusted and I run outside of the room. Once I'm out, I still run, I want to escape all of this, all of this place. 'Minho was having sex with that girl. Why ?', 'What is going on ? Where am I ?'. My breathing is irregular. I stop running and bring both of my hands on my knees, taking a resting position. 'Who am I ?' I wonder. Then slowly, the world around me falls apart, piece by piece. It just goes away, like memories fading with time. When I only have darkness surrounding me, I feel hands, pushing me on my back. I don't resist them and I fall into a murky sky._

I wake up, sweating, tears in my eyes, my pillow is humid and so is my blanket. I take a sitting position. I bring my hair in a ponytail and jump on my feet once I'm done. I make my bed and sit on its corner. I look by the window and starre at the forest. After a moment, I hear the lock snapping, and a second after, the door opens.

"How long have you been up darling ?" asks Aegeus. I raise my shoulders as an answer.

"Oh child ! What happened ?" he asks running towards me and sitting on my right side. He puts an arm on my shoulders, and his other hand holds mine. It's funny the way he talks to me, the way he always acts like he wants to protect me. Sometimes I get that feeling inside my heart. It feels like I'm his daughter.

"I don't really know where to start." I say, feeling my tears falling down my cheeks. My eyes are slowly turning red. And I feel the burn into it. "I don't get why I'm so weak ! I keep crying for stupid things." I add, blaming myself, shaking my hands in the air.

"You took the medecine ? For your memories ?" he asks.

"No, I didn't. But last night, at the new Maze episode-"

"Sweety, I've seen it, and I've heard what happened after. She's called Aya right ?" he asks. I nod.

"Who is she ?" he asks again. And from that moment, I kept talking. I told him about how I remembered her, her ginger hair, the promise I made to her. I told him about how this single memory made me remember everything else. My life in the past, the person I was. I then told him about Ava Paige, about the decision I made. I told him about how it destroyed my mother. I told him about my real unknown father. I told him about the correction center as well as my formation, about this man who killed himself. And I ended up, after a long hesitation, telling him about Minho.

"Look, darling, if there's something I've learned, it's that love stories here, in the Maze are just...dangerous, and worthless. Now, this is my opinion, but, look. You're here to survive first of all. If you start loving someone, then you'll have to save more asses. Which ends up being more difficult." he says. I raise my shoulders again, not sure if I understand what he means. He speaks so fast sometimes, that he gets lost.

"What I mean" he corrects "is that you need to drop it now, he isn't right for you. He's a complicated man, with a complicated past and life."

"How would you know ?"

"Darling !" he starts bringing one hand to his heart, as if I just hurt his ego. "I've been here longer than you have. Plus, I've seen some episodes about that guy and Thomas' band. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

I smile. When I look at the clock, hanging on the white wall, I remember about my meeting.

"Aren't we going to be late ?" I ask.

"Oh yeah right !" he exclaims. Aegeus raises from the bed and opens a box, he throws an outfit on my bed. "Put this on child !" he says. And I obey.

In my white long dress, I open the door of Alarick's office, I turn around, looking at Aegeus who has stopped.

"You're not coming ?" I ask.

"I'm not allowed" he says, smiling to excuse himself.

"You are now !" I declare which turns his sad smile in a 'thank you child' kinda smile.

We all start talking about the scientific details of how we're gonna be send to the Maze's gates. I listen to this scientific man called Danael. He uses words I didn't even know existed, but I pretend I know exactly what he means. What matters to me, is that I know I can trust him, I know he'll keep us safe. He has a lot of knowledge. I have no doubt, he is perfect for the job.

"Now let me talk to you about the plan." he starts with a broken voice : "I was thinking about a plane I've been working on for months now ! It won't be very large, because, well we don't have to be noticed by Wicked." he proudly smiles when he adds "I made something that is very cool." He turns on a screen with a button, he passes pages and finally a picture appears.

"It's a beautiful landscape" says Aegeus, making fun of him "But, where's the plane ?" he asks.

"That's my point. You can not see the plane if you just look at the landscape. You do not notice anything. To you, it just looks like trees and grass. But pay more attention to it-" with his fingers, he draws circles, lines, forming a plane, and we finally notice it. "And you will see. Here it is !" he concludes with a bright smile. Dimples appear on his face. He has that kind of smile, that makes you instantly feel better. It awakens, the joy, inside you.

"This is clever !" I exclaim, and everyone in the room nod.

"I know ! I think it's kinda cool. Wicked won't see it, we will be invisible while travelling.". Aegeus claps his hands.

Taking a deep breath, Danael continues : "We get into that plane. I'll drive it to the Maze's entrance. Once we'll be there-" someone enters the room, opening the door in a quick rough mouvment, interrupting Danael's explanation. Minho appears, laughing and saying goodbye to someone. I feel Aegeus' hand pressing my forearm.

"Sorry, have I missed something ?" asks Minho.

"Half of the meeting actually." replies Danael.

"It doesn't seem that interesting anyway." he answers back. What's going on with him ? Since when did he become so arrogant ? So rude ?

"Maybe you'd like to propose us a plan then ! I mean you seem to know everything !" replies Danael. His cheeks are turning red. His hands are white because of how hard he's squeezing the table.

"Look Mister Gay, I'm here now, so just keep on talking. I'll pretend I'm listening." says Minho with a calm voice.

'Danael is gay ?' I ask to myself. 'WHATEVER ! FOCUS VERA' screams the voice inside me.

When Danael opens his mouth to say something to Minho, I interrupt him "Don't bother Danael. Just keep going.". He nods unwillingly and explains the rest of the plan. I'm satisfied with it. It seems almost safe and it's clear to me. Theresa participates, and changes a couple details, so do I. Aegeus listens carefully and isn't afraid to speak out his mind when needed. He also makes some jokes. Thomas reminds us the danger, he tells us how it will work if, at any point, we'll have to fight against Wicked. I listen to him, and I pray, hoping that this situation won't happen. It's not like I'm good at shooting a target. Alarick just stays in his seat, hands crossed.

Before everyone leaves the room and get ready to depart on the next morning, I speak a few words. "I just thought I had to remind everyone, that you don't have to do this if you don't want to." Minho laughs. He's driving me mad ! 'THIS FUCKING IDIOT IS GOING TO MAKE ME SHOUT!' I think.

"Look Minho, if you don't give a fuck about it, just don't pretend you do. Get out and leave us. It's your choice. You do what you want, I'm not forcing anyone. But don't you dare come here, not helping and making fun of this situation. It's disrespectful. Everyone si trying to help. It's simple, either you keep acting like a dickhead and you leave us. Or either you stop acting like a selfish kid and you begin to be more useful." He raises from his seat, and without a word, he leaves the room. 'FUCK!' screams my mind. I contain my anger, and with a confident voice I add : "If someone else wants to leave, feel free to do so."

"I won't !" says Theresa. After a few breaths she adds "I'm sorry about Minho. But to what the guys told me he has been acting weird for days."

"Never mind." I reply.

"Darling" starts Aegeus "I think I'll come with you." I widen my eyes, surprised.

"What ?"

"I'm coming with you in The Maze." he repeats.

"Are you sure ?" I ask. And he nods "I've been thinking about it since you told me about her. This world could need more little girls like Aya. One day we'll die, and the people her age will have to live the way we've taught them to. She deserves to have a real education. And she deserves to live a happy life." he says.

"Thank you Aegeus" I reply hugging him. He smells like cinnamon and honey, it makes me hungry, and starve pancakes. 'I'm so awkward !' I think.

"Well I'll stay here, watch how this is going" says Alarick. "Now go back to your occupations. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 5 a.m.". We all nod and get out. I walk with Theresa for a couple minutes.

"Do you think it will work ?" I ask.

"It has to." she replies, as if it was obvious.

"Guys !" says Aegeus, raising his voice so that Theresa, Thomas, Newt, Danael and I hear him. "I have something to show you" he says, and we follow him. We enter another building I've never been into. It's in a boat shape, we're at the top of a mountain. I guess that the outside of the building is concealed in a rock form. We climb stairs, walk inside many corridors, we pass through a park. Further we cross shelves, I first think it's a library, but we lead to a large room. It has a circle form. There are two levels. On the first one, in the middle there's a large desk. There's a machine on it, tissus, pieces of clothing, sparkles, jewerly, every kind of objects actually. On the side there are books. I grab one and open the first page, I discover some _Fashion rules_ about a _street style_. I close it and put it back. We climb transparent stairs, made in glass. When I arrive at the top, on the second level, I discover flowers, fake and real, in different forms and colours. There are paintings as well, from famous artists. On a small desk made in dark wood, pens are spread everywhere, even on the ground. There's a plate, still full of food. Danael grabs a bite of the pie. Aegeus doesn't notice it. I remark that he was talking, since we entered the building.

"The thing is, I've been working on an outfit for Vera, since the first time I saw her. I had that image in my mind, of that suit. I knew it would be perfect on her." he says, searching between sheets of paper, putting away old drawings and dropping more pens on the floor.

"Ah !" he exclaims. "Here it is.". He holds the paper in front of him and shows it to the rest of the crew. I smile, impressed, once again by his talent and creation.

"What do you think ?" he asks worried.

"I- I- I love it Aegeus ! As always !" I reply.

"It's not done yet, but I have people working on it. It will be done in a hour or two." he says, speaking faster and faster. "And ! I also have something for each and everyone of you ! When I learned this morning, from my girl, Katarina, that you were thinking about going out, and rescuing that girl, I just thought, I needed to make something for the occasion. I went down the dining room to have my breakfast - it was so good today - and I dressed up and stuff. Anyway, then I came back to my office, and started drawing. I nerver felt so inspired ! I also found some old drawings, I chose the pieces, their origine. All of it, was made and designed by me. I've asked for rooms earlier and I had them. So, please, everyone follow me."

We walk and stop in front of a rose gold door. The number one, is inscribed on a white board.

"Theresa, this if for you ! Come on, get in. See you in a hour !" he says laughing, all excited. He claps his hands "Next one, Vera ! Ladies first, as always." I enter the room number two.

It's wide and empty. There's nothing inside it. I only notice four white walls. I turn around to get out, but the door is locked up. "What the hell ?" I ask out loud.

"Aegeus ! Open to me !" I yell, but no one answers. What is going on ? I tap on the door. Nothing happens. "Aegeus !" I scream louder.

I hear something behind me, I instinctively turn around, on my guard.

"You're Vera ?" asks a woman. She's dressed in white. I can't see any part of her skin, at all. I only see her dark eyes. Her face is covered by a light pink vail. Her hair are hidden underneath it. "I won't harm you" she says, and I guess she smiles beneath this piece of clothing.

"Who are you ?" I ask.

"I can't tell you my name." she replies.

"Why not ?"

"I made a vow Vera.", her voice is so sweet and smooth. "Now come on, follow me, we have a lot to do."

I walk behind her, on her steps. We don't walk very far. The walls are still white, but I percieve a bed, covered in white sheets.

"Take off your clothes and lay down here" she says, showing me the bed with her hand. She steps on the side and grabs some device. I open my white dress' zipper, and take it off. It falls down on the ground, quietly. In my underwears, I gently lay on the bed.

"Wait !" she says, "Your hair needs to be detached".

"Oh !" I whisper. I grab my black hair elastic and put it back on my right wrist, as an automatism. The lady dressed in white pushes a button, which makes the bed turn around. She grabs my hair with her hands and assemble them together. She style them, pours water on it, washes them, cuts them and braids them. She gives me a few tips as well. She washes her hands and grabs another apparatus. She now spreads a spray on my skin. She covers my body in a red sticky cream. While it's drying, she analyzes my face. She massages it, and pushes points inside my skin, I slightly jump sometimes.

"Can you turn around now please and lay on your belly ?" she asks. I execute her demand and turn around. After what seems to be a long moment, she concludes : "It's okay now, it's done. Just one more step and you'll be done !". I nod, glad that it's finally over. I jump on my feet and follow her into another room, still surrounded by white walls. The tall woman leaves the room without a word. I'm locked up again. Suddenly a cold water falls on my body. Gently. The texture on my body goes away, leaving my skin smoother and without a scratch.

I get outside this place and join back my room. As it's already quite late, I go to bed, exhausted, but afraid of what will happen tomorrow. Afraid to fail, to loose Aya. I stay awake, thinking, for hours. Once my eyes can't hold it any longer, they close theirselves, allowing my brain to stop thinking.

When the sun comes up, I immediatly wake up with a lump in my throat. I don't eat any breakfast, my stomach won't allow me to. The fear took over every single one of my muscles. The only thing on my mind is Aya.

I put on the dark blue suit Aegeus made for me, it's comfortable and simple. He knows his job, that's for sure. With my long sleeves, I'm afraid I'll be too warm. There are some silver details, around the neck and the wrists. I don't spend enough time analyzing my outfit to know exaclty what it looks like.

I step outside my room. Newt is in front of me, closing his bedroom's door.

"Hi !" he says. I smile back politely, but I stay silent. I fear something will happen if I talk. I might loose it and break into tears. Newt's suit is very different from mine. It's made in a brown colour, his sleeves are long as well. He has pockets almost everywhere. On his shoulders, the material is solid and black. It looks like metal. That's when I notice his large shoulders. My eyes move on to his hands, he's squeezing them. My sight ascends to his neck. It's tanned, and his skin looks smooth. Newt passes one hand in his blond hair, while he walks in front of me.

"Are you comin' ?" he asks, taking me out of my dream. I realise I was peering.

"Yeah, yeah !" I reply, following him down the green corridor. Head down, I can't belive I stood there and starred at him. We go down the stairs, climb inside the elevator. Once the doors open, I see Aegeus, in his own black/golded suit. His eyes are surrounded by a white eye liner, his lashes are curled, his nails are painted in a dark nail polish. He smiles when he sees me.

"I knew it would look good on you child !" he exclaims. I smile. He grabs something on the table that is next to him. He brings his hands above my face, I move it slightely. And he disposes a dark clothing piece around my neck.

"What's the weather over there ?" I ask worried this scarf will be too much.

"Minus 10 degrees I think." answers Danael, arranging his dark green pant around his waist.

"Its not a scarf child, it's a hood ! But, I actually made every single one of these suits perfectly. They will be able to resist to cold temperatures. But they'll get bigger if you activate the warming mode." explains Aegeus.

"Ready everyone ?" asks Alarick coming into the room.

We all nod. Theresa grabs my hand and starts walking, leading me to this very large and imposant airplane.

"Let's do this !" she says, with an excitment tone in her voice.

"I don't get why you're excited ! I'm terrified." I reply.

"That's because you've never done this before. With time, and if you get used to this kind of mission, you'll learn how to use your adrenaline in a good way." says Thomas. And smiling, to reassure me he adds "No matter what happen, we're together, that's what's important." I nod, trying to convince myself.

A minute before the plane takes off, Alarick checks our seat belts, he talks to Danael one last time, he taps his shoulder, friendly. Danael grabs the airplane's control surfaces. I then see Minho jumping inside the plane and sitting in the unoccupied seat. Newt looks at him "You changed your mind ?".

"Shut up !" he replies.

"I'm glad you did" says Thomas, squeezing both of his lips.

"Yeah well, can we talk about something else now ?" he says, impatient and probably shameful.

Alarick speaks with a loud voice, so everyone can hear him. "Well, I wish you all a good luck. We'll be watching you all the time. Be careful. We need you alive !". We smile and nod.

He gets out of the plane, the doors are closed and we slowly lift up from the ground. We all grab each others hand - except Minho, he refuses- and we close our eyes.

I've never felt so certain about my choices, but I've never felt so terrorized. This is truly a question of life and death. But not only mine. It's about my friends and about Aya. It really feels like I'm going to play a game level. But I leave, knowing that I have more chances to die than to succeed. Bringing everyone back to the refuge, in one piece and alive, is a hell of a challenge.


	9. Chapter 9 : Wicked's plan

_Hello everyone ! I know it's been a while since I uploaded a new chapter and I sincerely want to apologize. I hope you still remember the beginning of this fanfiction and above all, I hope you'll keep reading the following chapters. I'll try to upload as much as I can in the future._

 _The reason why I haven't been uploading is because I joined medical school, and I'm in university, living alone in a big city. It was a big change for me so I needed a bit of time to get used to it._

 _Here's the following chapter. I truly hope you'll enjoy it._

 _Much love, xunxknwonx._

Chapter 9 : There's more then one version to a story.

I jump off of the airplane. Both of my feet are finally on the ground. The rocks are dark and high. When I walk a little bit further, I notice there's water on them. I almost slip, but Thomas and Theresa hold me back. I thank them with a smile. They all wait for everyone to go down. I admire the landscape that's facing me. Tremendous waterfalls are rushing in a deep, wide lake. We're immersed in dusk. But even though the sun is softly rising up, we can not catch a sight of its light. It's like the massive clouds are holding it back, as if it is a prisonner. I look everywhere around me. Rocks and water are all I can see. Nothing else, not a sign of any human, not a sign of Wicked. There's no sound. Everything is calm. Everything is so serene that you can feel the sound of the falling water, striking the lake, inside you.

"I'm not coming." says a man voice. I turn around curious. "It's probably best if I stay here and wait for you." adds Danael. His eyes are going up and down. He's afraid of the way I'm about to react, he doesn't know how to say this. Which is understandable. I smile and reply : "I'm not forcing anyone. And I do think that it's best for you to stay inside the plane. After all, you're the only one able to drive it.". He nods, grateful.

The rest of us grab a backpack, we close our suit completely, already feeling the cold thin wind, refreshing our skin.

"Let's go !" screams Thomas. And forming a line, we start walking, between dangerous and sharped rocks. We jump, run, walk slower, grab each others' hands, we try to find balance, and we finally make it to the main entrance or exit of this Maze.

While Thomas is trying to open it, I hear Theresa whispering : "What if there are Grievers inside this Maze Thomas ?"

"What's a griever ?" I ask, feeling my heart beating faster. This wasn't mentioned in the plan.

"We're not even inside it yet !" replies Thomas, annoyed. And calmly he adds "Let's just focus on what is happening for now. Don't scare everyone out Theresa."

Newt presses my right shoulder with his hand for a second and reassures me "You know how to run, so you don't have to worry about a Griever.". I smile back at him. My smile fades when I understand that a Griever might make you wanna runaway. I shake my face from left to right. 'Focus Vera.' I repeat.

A beep thuds. The grey wall which is in front of us opens, and we enter the Maze, on our guard. There are four different roads possible.

"We should stay together" says Thomas. I nod and follow him inside the first possible way. We walk all day, between grey walls. On them are disposed creepers, ropes, and blood. We find corpses when we arrive at a dead-end. We turn back and walk.

We choose a different path, we turn right, left, right and left again. We never know where we're going. We meet no one, and see nothing else but walls. The sun above us is burning our skin, even though the temperature is lowing down as the night aproaches. We decide to stop at some place that seems safe. Behind creepers, we hide our bodies and fall asleep. Someone takes the first watch, and we relay each other. I take the last one. I climb on this wall and sit at its edge. Above the Maze, I notice the place where our airplane is. We can't notice it at all. I watch the sunrise on my own, clapping my hands to warm them up. Once everyone is up, I get down and we walk, again.

Eventually we access a glade. With a sign of his right hand, Thomas asks us to lower down. I'm at the end of the line, so I don't see anything.

Thomas raises his face a little bit higher and he looks around. Our breathes our loud, but we are all focusing on what's around us.

"Do you see something ?" asks Theresa in front of me.

"No." replies Thomas.

"It's not possible, there were there on the episode, they couldn't have just dissapeared !" I say taking a step forward to have a glance at that glade. I look at it carefully. All I can see is snow, white, untouched perfectly spread snow. The ground is so white, that I have to fold my eyes. Further I notice trees.

"There were houses in the episode. This isn't the right glade." I say.

"Thomas !" yells Newt from the other side of the wall. I widen my eyes, when I see him running towards what looks like a cage.

We all follow him blindly and run inside the glave. Our feet inside the snow, every step is hard, and I feel heavy. When we arrive at the cage, Aegeus grabs my hand to rest.

"That's where Wicked sends us, women or men." adds Newt.

"Then where are they ?" I ask. He raises his shoulders up and down, letting me know he has no idea.

"Wicked could come at any moment." I say, looking around me. "We should hide." I add.

"It's too late for that, they knew we were in, the minute Thomas entered the Maze. If they wanted to kill us, they already would've. They want us to enter their game again, they need us to entertain."

"We must be smarter !" I reply and add "we need to change the rules of this game."

"I thought we were here to save Aya !" replies Newt surprised.

"We are, but they already know it's our goal." I reply.

The voice of Theresa keeps me from adding something. "GUYS ! These our not our footsteps right ?" she asks. And I percieve them inside the snow, small ones.

Minho kneels and look at them "They're going inside the woods. We should follow them." And they all start running.

'What if it's a trap ?' I wonder, but I don't have the time to tell them this when a fire immediatly starts. It couldn't be natural, with all this snow. Wicked is here, Wicked is watching us at this very moment.

Wicked is trapping us.

"FIRE !" I yell. They all stop and discover the trees, turning red. They feel the hit of the explosion on their skin. They feel their eyes becoming blind because of this light. After a while, we notice the smoke which arises in the sky.

"Let's go this way !" says Thomas. My friends are running in these woods, but in another direction, skirtting the fire, and I follow them.

Running inside the woods reminds me of the first days I spent here. The time when I saw one of Wicked's vessault. It all seems so far away now. As I run a huge gust of wind explodes, lifting my body up from the ground. I fall a little bit further on a tree. A piece of wood enters inside my skin. I grab it and take it away while I howl with pain. My teeth show up and my lips bend. I squeeze my eyes and try to hold the ache inside. I jump on my feet and run behind Theresa, one hand on my belly, where the piece of wood was.

"It's a dead end !" screams Minho in front of us. We all stop, worried, afraid and frightened. We look around and search for something.

"The steps ! Have you been following the steps ?" I ask.

"It was a fucking trap !" yells Aegeus, but I'm not surprised of his language, I'm surprised of how good he's handling this situation, for someone who's afraid when a flie enters his room.

Thomas hits the grey wall with his hands and screams. I pass one hand on my forehead, unconsciensly spreading some blood on it.

Then suddenly, when all we are focusing on is the way out, a howling comes out of nowhere. I look at Thomas, and Theresa. By their facial expression, I know this isn't good. This is actually not good at all. Something, way more dangerous then Wicked's soldiers is coming after us. I can feel the steps of this thing on the ground. The snow beneath my feet is trembling, and my legs with it. My heartbeat is too high for a human being. In a second my whole body is shaking, invaded by fear. The sky turns in a dark colour, and the trees are all on fire. My eyes are burning with the heat that a blast occures.

"GRIEVEEEEEEEER !" yells Minho with a strong and fierce voice. We all here it.

This moment seems to happen in a slow motion to me. I see Minho grabbing Aegeus' arm, they start running, next to the grey wall, away from the fire. Theresa does the same when they pass in front of her. Thomas, who had both of his hands on the wall, raises his head and looks on his left side. His eyes express a deep feeling : fear. He hasn't seen it yet, but he already knows exactly what it looks like. It doesn't take him long to react. He puts one leg in front of the other, and with his arms he helps his body weight forward. He starts running as fast as he can, forgetting about everything else. In these kinda moments, the world around you dissapears, you only focus on what is making you do what you're doing, you only hear the blood in your veins rushing as fast as possible, you hear your muscles, contracting. Everything else dissapears. In these moments you know you're life worth is way more important than anything else.

Newt and I need a little more time to understand and analyse the situation. We both widen our eyes and mouths, we look around and search for a way out, an exit, a miracle. But then, after a couple seconds, Newt starts running. he follows the others, leaving me here, in the middle of a life and death situation.

'What was I expecting ?'

And once again, in front of a frightening event, my body is staying still. I do not move an inch, at all. My mind is yelling, screaming. It's ordering me to run away. And I know I should, I know I have to, but I can't.

'Please RUN !' I yell and repeat to my body, but it does'nt listen. 'Just move, one leg, your feet MOVE'.

I see the trees, on fire. They fall on the ground. The walls around us seem to get closer. I feel trapped and lonely. Did Aya felt the same when she first got here ?

I see a shadow far from me, moving. Walking towards me. Mist is getting out of my mouth as I breathe out deeply and loudly, expressing my fear.

Suddenly I feel the pressure of someone else's hand on my arm.

"VERA RUUUUUUUUN !" he yells. And his voice unlocks my body as some kind of spell.

Minho and I start running next to each other. He stays in some path, where the snow tamped. I jump over a fallen trunk, and join Newt inside this path. Our feet sink inside the snow, but we do not pay attention to it. We can feel the beast behind us. I almost sense its breath on my back. It freaks me out so much, that my body seems to paralyse. I have the impression that I'm not running anymore. But by noticing the trees and the rocks passing on my right side I know I am. We then turn left in a small track. The snow is gone. This soil is dry and firm.

I turn my face behind me a couple of times to see if Minho is still following me. I keep running, faster and faster, knowing that he's right behind me.

After a moment, I hear his footsteps on the ground slowly stopping. I turn around.

"Here !" he says, helping me getting in another track, smaller this time. We run in this one, for a longer time.

"Is it still following us ?" I ask.

"I don't know ! But keep running !" screams Minho behind me. And I follow his order, running faster. Once I can't hold it, I stop and fall on my knees. Both hands on my thighs I take deep breathes. My hair are in front of me, I don't see anything else. I can't hear anything either. All I feel and sense is my heart inside my chest, burning and pumping as hard as it could be. My legs are on fire as well, I feel my muscles beneath my skin, screaming for this torture to end. When I raise my head up, still breathing loudly, I see Minho, laying on the ground as well. We both are out of breath.

"It's not following us anymore." he releases between two panting. I gently smile, relieved. I wince when the wound inside my belly hits me.

"You're hurt ?" he asks. I nod.

"I fell earlier in the woods." I reply.

"Is it critical ?" he asks. I say no with my head. He nods "Good, so let's just rest for now and wait." he adds.

I do not object. I let my butt fall on the ground. My back and neck, resting, uncomfortably on the wall. My face is covered by my hair, and some brown leaves. I stay like this for an eternity, trying to come back to my senses.

At some point, Minho starts talking. He is sitting like me, back against the wall. "Why do you think they did this ?"

"To remind us that we made the wrong decision to come back inside a Maze." I reply, half joking, half serious. "If they wanted us dead, we would be." I add.

"We should search for the others." he replies. I nod and get back on my feet. We walk slowly inside the Maze, going back on our steps. Hiding our bodies behind the wall, we bend and notice the trees. They all turned into ashes. Nothing remains of this forest. The griever isn't here either.

"Do you know where they went ?" I ask.

"Here." he replies. I turn around and with my eyes, I look at the place he's pointing with his finger. He's showing me the cage. We walk, incapable of running again, towards the cage. But when we arrive, no one is here. We look around, and inside it, but there's no one.

"Where did they go ?" whispers Minho to himself.

Exhausted I sit, on the ground. "We have to find them !" says Minho, trying to convince me, or himself.

"You're plan is to go inside that Maze and find our friends ? We do not know how big it is. And there's only the two of us. If we do that, we'll get lost, or eaten alive by one of your creature. It's a suicide mission. We should wait here for them to return." I reply.

"What if they don't?" he asks back.

"I don't know."

"Exactly, you don't know. This was your idea and now you don't know."

I widen my mouth, angry "It wasn't my idea to run stupidly inside this forest, I knew this was a trap, but you all blindly got into it ! And it wasn't my idea to get attacked by a fucking Griever !" I yell.

"Why didn't you scream and asked us to stop running then ?! Don't blame us ! You wanted to come here, to save someone you barely know ! And someone who isn't even, here !" he's screaming as well, throwing his hands in the air.

"I know Aya ! She's like a sister to me ! How was I suppose to know that she wouldn't be here ? Stop blaming me !" now I'm on my feet.

"You're calling someone, which whom you only spent a few weeks in a fucking prison, a sister ? You do not know her, you only have pity towards everyone vulnerable !" he screams.

"That IS NOT TRUE !" I reply. "Why are you being a dickhead ?"

He breathes out and closes his eyes. I releases my shoulder down, and sit back on the ground. The anger disapeared. After walking around the cage for a hundred times, Minho sits next to me. Both of his knees are up, he draws circles inside the snow.

"What do we do if no one comes ?" I ask calmly.

"I don't know." he replies. Somehow I knew this would be his answer, but I hoped, maybe there were a solution. Where the hell did they all go ? They're smart, they knew it was a bad idea to get to deep inside the Maze. 'Maybe they were forced to.' I think.

"It was Wicked's plan was it ?" I say.

Minho widens his eyes, he puts one finger on his mouth, telling me to shut up.

He writes something in the snow : **They can hear you.**

I erase his phrase and write down : **They wanted to seperate the group. This way, we're easier to kill, or to give up on the mission.**

Minho nods and write down : **That's what I thought too.**

Thinking and hesitating I write : **Do you really think we should go inside that Maze ?**

 **Yes.** he replies, and adds **Sleep first, we'll go tomorrow. I'll take the first watch.**

"How's your wound ?" he asks. I open my suit and look at it.

"It's not that deep." I reply wincing. I grab the hood and rip it apart 'sorry Aegeus, but no time for fashion.' I think. I take the sheet and put it on my open skin. I wail when I push on it. I lay myself down on the cold ground, and I try to fall asleep. But I can't, I'm afraid I'll wake me up and have to run again. Afraid I'll have to push myself and save my ass. I'm afraid something happened to one of us. So many thoughts go through my mind. I just can't sleep.

"You should at least pretend to be asleep" says Minho with a sleepy voice. I can't see his face in the darkness, but I guess he's smiling.

"I can't, I'm freezing." I reply.

"Activate your warming mode on your suit." he says. And remembering this smart idea Aegeus had, I push on the tiny button behind my neck. In fifteen minutes, my whole body is plunged in a warm temperature, it's like I have a blanket all over me, and I fall asleep.

I'm awaken by daylight. The sun is shining, and its light reflects on the fresh white snow. It takes me a few seconds to open my eyes and get used to this lightning. Minho is asleep, sitting in the same position as he was during night time. His head is resting on his left shoulder. He looks so peaceful, young and pure when he sleeps.

'You took the first watch huh ?' I think, laughing inside, knowing that it's not funny at all. I lift myself up and rest on my elbow. I desactivate the warming mode of my suit. I take a sitting position and look around. I start walking around the cage. Everything is normal. I jump inside it. The metal makes some noise. I open different boxes but find them empty. On a corner I see blood, I ignore it, and open the next box made in wood. I'm not surprised when I find it empty.

"What are you doing ?" asks a voice above me. I jump, surprised. My heart race explodes. But when I see Minho's face, I calm down. "You freaked me out !" I say. He laughes shyly and holds his hand towards me. I grab it and get out of this cage.

"It's empty" I say, looking at it.

"Obviously." he replies, looking at the sky, and at what's left of the forest.

"We should go." he adds. I nod and follow him. We take the other way our friends could've taken. We walk between these grey walls again. The ground is covered in a light amount of snow.

"We should go up !" I say.

"Why ?" asks Newt, walking in front of me, head down.

"Well, it would be easier and safer." I reply.

"Safer no, Grievers can jump at this high easily." he replies with a cold voice. I stop and grab one of the rock. I push my body up, until I finally can hold on to strong plants. I finally am at the top of the wall. It's not very large, but still, we can walk on it.

"What will you do when you'll have to jump from one wall to another ?" asks Minho below me, one hand covering his eyes from the sunlight.

"I'll see." I reply which makes him laugh.

I walk on it. I look in front of me and see nothing but a grey path.

"Minho !" I say, worried, but not sure if I'm hallucinating or not. He stops right away when he hears me pronouncing his name with this voice.

"There's a Griever in front of you !" I say, half whispering, but still talking loud enough so that he can hear me. "It's not moving." I add, trying to tell myself that we're safe.

Minho starts walking again, on his guard. I go down and join him. When we're next to the Griever, we notice he's dead. The tall guy next to me grabs his knife and opens the Griever's chest. A sound of disgust gets out of both of our mouths. The smell is... distasteful.

"It's empty." says Minho covering his nose. "Our friends are still alive." he explains.

"Where the hell did they go ? We've been walking for hours." I say.

"Where would you go if a Griever runs after you ?" he asks back.

"Somewhere I could hide" I reply. "But...wait, do you think they went back to the plane ?" I ask.

"No way, Thomas wouldn't give up on us" he adds.

"What if..." I start and continue after taking a deep breath "What if they ran away and hide in some place which they thought was safe. But then, those people, those dudes from this Maze, fell on them and captured them ?"

"You should write a novel someday." says Minho.

I hit him on his shoulder "I'm being serious." I say.

He laughs and says "Thomas wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught like that."

"Then what happened ?" I ask annoyed.

"Something bad, something really bad" he replies.

"Minho don't play with me" I say.

And whispering, so that, if anyobody's listening they won't hear, he says : "No I'm not playing, I'm being serious Vera". He continues when he sees my facial expression "I'm thinking Wicked got them and took them away."

And as if it was obvious I continued his sentence "they also took everyone from this Maze because they were a threat, a threat they couldn't control anymore. They erased this Maze from the show."

"And they got our friends, thinking that they'll be able to clean up all this mess just by killing them when the time is right." adds Minho.

"What do you mean when the time is right ?" I ask.

"When the rebels camp decides to rebel" he says.

"But I thought they didn't plan such a thing." I say surprised.

"They did, that's why they didn't approve your rescue mission at first, but then they saw it, as an opportunity to distract Wicked's attention." he replies.

"Oh my god... " I whisper, both hands inside my hair. This is beyond everything that we expected, nothing was planed this way. This mission turned out to be more than just about Aya and finding a sister.


End file.
